


You, Me, and Aelius Makes Three

by Foreverwholockedme



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Domestic Fluff, Established Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, One Big Happy Family, Separation Anxiety, Shakarian - Freeform, Slight Canon Divergence, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, aelius has separation anxiety, garrus and shepard also have a daughter later on, garrus is an uncle, garrus is trying his best, n7 crew, the citadel dlc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-01 01:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foreverwholockedme/pseuds/Foreverwholockedme
Summary: Shepard meets Garrus's nephew who was the only one to get off of Palaven after the events of Menae. It's a story about Shepard and Garrus doing their best to care for his nephew Aelius in the middle of a war, and along the way the N7 crew help pick up where they leave off.





	1. Meeting Aelius

_Come meet me at the docking bay. There’s someone I want you to meet._

_-G_

Leona read the message with a raised brow. Who could Garrus possibly be introducing that she didn’t already know? It’s not like he had many friends outside of the Normandy crew, and her. He never really talked about anybody either, besides his family. Maybe it was an old cop buddy from C-Sec? She remembered him mentioning that Ridgefield survived the Citadel coup and maybe they got together for drinks? She knew that it couldn’t be possible but maybe it’s a girl, a nice turian woman that used to date him or liked him even. Her blood froze, what if it was Dr. Michel finally trying to make her move on him after so long pining for him? She shook her head. That was stupid, of course it wasn’t. He would’ve mentioned her name in the message and he didn’t even know that she was flirting with him, bless his little awkward heart.

Anyway, they had shore leave and Garrus had a surprise for her. Who was she to reject him? She was the only person on the ship anyway. The crew high-tailed it the moment “shore” left her mouth. She put on her N7 hoodie and opened the door to the docking bay. There she saw Garrus, but he didn’t see her, he wasn’t even facing her. He had his back turned to her and he was looking down at something. She smiled and cupped her hands around her mouth.

“Hey Garrus!”

He turned around and smiled back at her. He waved and turned back around. She put her hands in her pockets as she watched him bend down and pick up whatever it was he so busy with. What she wasn’t ready for was when he turned around and had a small turian child in his arms. Her eyes went wide and she almost passed out.

Garrus had a child. He had a son. It makes sense, turians become legal at a very young age and his father probably forced him into some marriage with another woman. But why didn’t Garrus ever tell her he already had a family? Was he cheating on his wife? Was she dead? Did they separate? When was he going to tell Shepard about his kid? How old was he when he had him? What’s his name?

“Hey Leo.” He moved in to kiss her cheek, she barely responded to it. He shifted the quiet turian boy to his hip and cleared his throat.

“Leona, this is my…”

She clenched her fists _“Oh god Garrus don’t say it. Please don’t say it…”_

“My nephew, Aelius.”

And immediately, she felt as stupid as a pyjak. Her whole body lost its tension at the word “nephew”. Of course Garrus didn’t have another family, of course he didn’t have a child. He’s as loyal as a person can be and she doubts he would pursue a relationship with her if he knew that he had a wife and son waiting for him on Palaven. Her eyes traveled down to Aelius. He was small, and he was clutching on to Garrus as if he she was going to take him away. His eyes were the same blue as his uncle’s, making her wonder if those eyes were the trademark Vakarian feature. He looked up at Garrus and his tiny mandibles started to make a clicking sound. Garrus responded with his own clicking and a weird hum coming from his subvocals that Leona never heard before. She was used to his purring at night, and the occasional growl whenever he saw something that upset him. This was mixture between a purr and a whine of sorts. It was faint, if she were turian she probably would be able to place the sound better. Garrus stroked the boy’s face and looked back at her.

“I’m sorry, he’s shy, and hungry. What about you?”

Leona smirked and said, “I’m also shy and hungry.”

They both laughed and walked towards a taxi. When they were seated at the café, Garrus was gently bouncing his leg up and down to quiet his distraught nephew.

“So, you’re an uncle.” Her eyes were fixed on Aelius who was fussing with the silverware on the table. She smiled at how cute he was.

“I’m an uncle.” Garrus repeated as he ran a talon along the child’s arm.

“How old is he?”

“Aelius, how old are you going to be?”

Aelius smiled up at her and held up his hand. His talons were so small and her heart clutched at how vulnerable he was. She was grinning now at how his mood changed drastically.

“You’re three?”

Garrus chuckled, “He’ll be four in a few months, right?”

Aelius nodded.

“He can speak, not perfectly, but he’s getting there. He’s probably going to take a while to get used to you and the rest of the crew, seeing how he’s never seen a human in person or anybody besides turians. He’s a good boy.”

Garrus started stroking the top of Aelius’s fringe fondly. Leona liked seeing that. That her big bad turian boyfriend was such a softie. She hadn’t thought about having kids, but maybe with Garrus, and they both survived this war, she would talk to him about it.

“Look, sweetie, I’m sorry to spring this up on you like this, and I would have loved to go do something else today, but he’s getting tired and this food should be here soon.”

Leona saw the guilt in his eyes and she pressed her lips together in a comforting smile.

“It’s alright Garrus, it’s getting pretty late anyway. We can save it for tomorrow.”

 Garrus looked relieved that she wasn’t angry. She wished that he wasn’t so hard on himself all the time and that he understood that she just liked being with him. And now, she was going to love being with him and his nephew for however long he was staying.

They managed to buy a few things for the cabin, Aelius too tired to cause a fuss. She couldn’t help but stare at him as they walked down the Presidium, one hand holding hers, and the other holding his nephew. When they got back to the ship Tali and Liara were standing on the bridge and at the sight of the tiny turian they almost lost it. Leona quickly shushed them and made her way with Garrus to their room. He sat on their bed and gently rocked the dozing child back and forth until he finally fell asleep. He tucked him into their bed and Leona realized that she was going to have to share her bed with another turian. He took his visor off and looked towards her.

“Okay, my sister, Solana, she had a mate but things didn’t…go so good with them. He died during the first Reaper attacks on Palaven, and my sister, she found out that I was back with you from one of her friends on Menae. She sent me a message, and told me that she found a shuttle to take him to the Citadel. That shuttle only took children though.”

She frowned. “So your sister and dad are…”

“Still on Palaven.”

He sounded so worried and she felt bad for bringing it up. He looked down at the sleeping boy and said, “She didn’t want him to go to some orphanage, not while he had family off-world. Of course, his shuttle only just docked in the Citadel, her message was from weeks ago…”

“She’s okay, Garrus. Both of them, they’re both okay. Something tells me that the Vakarians are a stubborn bunch, they’re going to meet us at the end of this war. Okay?” She couldn’t let him lose hope now, not when he’s spent so long giving her more reasons to fight.

“Yeah, Leo.” He whispered. She nodded with a smirk on her face and turned to go to the bathroom when she heard him say, “I know this isn’t ideal, but I would like to keep him on the ship, for now at least.”

Leona’s insides clenched. Keeping a child on board? Especially someone that Garrus loves so much? She thought of all the things that could happen. The Normandy could get destroyed again, invaded by Reaper forces…but the way Garrus looked at him. Even though it wasn’t his kid, she could see the parental side of her boyfriend shine through and she loved it, but it scared her. Even though she barely knew the child, the short time they spent together she couldn’t help but love him too. They wouldn’t let anything happen to Aelius, they would protect him with their lives. She owed that to him, and to the rest of the children who didn’t have family members to go to. She took a deep breath and turned around. She crossed her arms and said,

“You know we’re going to have to give him a job, right?”

The smile on Garrus’s face was a reminder of what she’s fighting for.


	2. Just the Two of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leona and Aelius spend the day together

It wasn’t uncommon for one of them to wake up alone in the bed. Even though she had a million and one things to do, Garrus was the early bird of them both. She would always wonder how he mustered the energy and strength to wake up at ungodly hours of the morning, and always deliver her coffee and breakfast to the cabin. She figured that it was yet another reminder of their interspecies relationship, or maybe Garrus had always been like that. It was fun sometimes, to watch him and wonder if all turians did that or just her turian. If she ever got the chance to meet his sister, she would spend hours at a time hearing about all his quirks and fall in love with him a little more.

What was uncommon was finding a miniature turian sleeping in the bed with her. She smiled at the sleeping boy and laid her head on her pillow and watched him rest. Last night was the first night that both wore clothes to sleep, and slept more than two inches away from the other. She missed it, but this wasn’t the time for her to hound Garrus about one night of no sex. She went to stroke Aelius’s mandible, it was so short and smooth, much different from his uncle. It was cute to think of Aelius like a baby Garrus. He never really spoke about his childhood, and she never pressed him about it. He never asked her about Mindoir, she gave him little bits here and there, but he never asked for more, he always took what he got. Maybe he was scared that if he brought it up, all the ugliness and sadness would come with it and she knows that he hated seeing her sad. It broke her heart when he talked about Omega. She was no therapist but even she could see the self-loathing in his words.

Aelius twitched and her first instinct was to pick her head up to see if anything was bothering him. She was on alert until he settled again, and she resumed stroking his face. She stopped to pull the blanket higher on his body, she could tell he was a bit of a wild sleeper, and maybe Garrus moved him farther away because of this. She lifted herself up once more and looked over the edge and saw there was a pillow on the floor. She smiled again. She loved her turian.

There was flashing coming from a datapad on Garrus’s side of the bed. On the nightstand. She reached over carefully and picked it up, she tried to direct the bright light away from Aelius’s face as she read.

_Meeting with Primarch Victus. I left you a bedmate in my absence though!_

_I’ll come back with coffee and food._

_I love you._

_-G_

Leona shut the datapad off and hugged it to her chest. She could never get used to reading or seeing those words from him. She set the datapad on her nightstand and looked down at Aelius. She made a mental note to extranet search turian children sleep patterns, or ask Garrus when he came back. She reached down to pull Aelius onto her lap. He stirred a little but was still fast asleep. She rocked him back and forth and hummed a nursery rhyme even though he always already sleeping. She couldn’t help but think about how much Aelius knew about what was going on. Did he know why his mother sent him to Garrus? Did he know his father was dead? Was he aware that might never see his planet, or family ever again? No. She couldn’t think like that. She was looking at the future of the galaxy if she succeeded and stopped the Reapers. He will be with Solana again, he will grow up and rebuild the broken pieces of his planet, and he will prosper. This was the future she was fighting for.

“I wonder how long your uncle will be.”

She looked at the door and silently hoped for him to be summoned at the thought. When the door stayed shut, she sighed. Her thin fingers found their way to the back of his fringe, stroking it, still swaying to a tune that long since died on her lips. Her focus shifted to her thoughts and soon she became so distracted that she missed the tiny yawn and the way his small talons clung to her soft skin as his senses slowly came to him.

“Uncle Garrus?” The tiny voice shook her from her memories and she looked down and saw Aelius staring up at her with big blue eyes in confusion.

She had never felt such a maternal bond, Grunt came very close, with a child let alone a turian child. His gentle, innocent face pulled at her heartstrings and she could hear the tinge in his voice, the low whine in his throat, he was slightly scared, puzzled, he wanted his uncle. She rubbed her thumb on his thin arm and tried to look as comforting as she could.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright, he’ll be back. You wanna go look for him?”

Her heart was breaking at the increasing volume of his keening and all she wanted to do was stop him from being so sad. He nodded as he rubbed at his eyes. They slid out of the bed, she was thankful that she was wearing her exercise shorts at least and Garrus’ old C-Sec t-shirt, complete with his last name on the back. She held him as they made their way to the crew deck. She knew that Garrus was on the first floor, but she wanted to distract him and give him a tour of the Normandy. First impressions are key.

“Hey, Aelius, look! Look you see that?”

His head turned, but his keening didn’t stop.

“Look there’s the kitchen, are you hungry?”

He didn’t respond for a while. Leona almost sighed out of relief, but his whining got louder and she was positive that Garrus and the Primarch could hear him from the war room. She rubbed his back and bounced him up and down, hushing him quietly, trying to get him to relax. She figured this would happen, Garrus warned her yesterday that he didn’t well with other people, let alone non-turians. She looked down the hall at the main battery. She wondered if Aelius would calm down if he got a whiff of the adult turian’s scent. He was certainly in there enough for something to linger.

“You wanna see where your uncle works?” There was nothing she hated more than baby talk, and while she wasn’t using the heinous speech, she still found her voice going higher to get his attention. She was never so glad to be alone before. At the mention of his uncle, Aelius wiped at his eyes and nodded. She walked towards the battery, hoping that she didn’t get the kid’s hopes up by thinking his uncle would be in there. The door hissed open and immediately Aelius stopped keening.

“Uncle Garrus works here.”

He looked up at her, eyes still glassy, and his nose sniffling.

“He works here?”

She nodded, and couldn’t help the smile growing on her face at how cute he was. That runs in the family too, she guessed. He squirmed in her arms and she set him down and watched him make careful steps around the room, his hands grazing over the same control panels and keyboards his uncle uses with fascination written all over his face. Leona took her seat on the box she wooed Garrus on a year ago and watched as Aelius flittered about, chirping to himself.

“It’s big.”

“I know.”

He turned to face her. His hands clasped together in front of his chest he walked back over to her. It was different when they were at the same eye level. He looked around again and asked where uncle Garrus was. She sighed and her shoulders sagged.

“He’s talking with someone downstairs.”

“Can we go?”

She shook her head but not before the thought of interrupting his meeting crossed her mind.

“I’m afraid not little buddy, but I’m sure that it won’t be much longer now. You want to go back up to my cabin? I’ll let you play with Boo…”

Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes.

She nearly jumped when he nodded his head apprehensively.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when they returned to her room, but she had fun with Aelius and Boo. He was terrified of the hamster before, to the point where he didn’t even want to look at it and boy does he have a pair of lungs on him. After twenty minutes of kissing her beloved hamster and coaxing him into making more than five seconds eye contact with it, he warmed up to the furry mammal and even wanted to hold it.

“Am I crashing the party?”

She turned around and saw her beloved turian standing in the doorway with a tray with two plates and a cup of coffee. She smiled warmly and got up to kiss him. His chuckle vibrated through his body and she kissed him again. He pressed his forehead against hers and the two shared a moment of silence before he opened his eyes and motioned to Aelius.

“How was he?”

She turned and watched Aelius playing with Boo and smiled to herself.

“He slept for a little after I woke up. It took a little bit but I took him to the main battery and he calmed down enough for me to bring him back here to wait for you.”

“The main battery?”

“Well…yeah,” She shrugged, “He kept asking for you and I thought…you know…he would be alright if he smelled you. Also, don’t forget I promised him a tour of the ship.”

They walked over to the bed and Garrus set the tray down on the nightstand. They sat on the edge of the bed and watched Aelius chirp happily holding Boo.

“I didn’t think the meeting would be that long, I’m sorry. He gets separation anxiety pretty bad, Solana told me that when he was younger. I’ll try to help him with it.”

“Garrus it’s alright. I know fuck all about children but Aelius is pretty damn cute. Like another turian I know.”

She rested a hand on his and sent a sly smirk his way. He swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“A little too early to make me blush, Leo. Anyway, I’m sorry again for putting that on you.”

She tilted her head as she stared at the unscarred side of his face. He always had a hard time asking for help, and of course with something like this, he felt like he was being a burden on her and the was the last thing she wanted him to think he was.

“No problem Garrus. And you know when we were in the battery, he thought you were pretty cool. I could see it in his eyes.”

Garrus perked up at that. “Really?”

She nodded. She always loved how cute he was when he was praised, she only wished he believed it more often. He cleared his throat and called Aelius over. She heard the child gasp and run over to him, chirping and whining excitedly.

“Uncle Garrus!”

Garrus lifted him onto his lap and laughed. “Aelius! Did you have a good time with Leona?”

Aelius nodded and showed him Boo. Leona stifled a laugh at Garrus’s mock surprise. She had no doubt in her mind that he would be a great father.

“Ah, if it isn’t the infamous Boo! You know legend has it that she only lets people she _really_ likes hold her. You’re special, Aelius.”

“I am?”

God, he was so cute!

Garrus nodded and pet the hamster with a talon.

“Now, you can play with her after we eat, sound good?”

Aelius nodded and gave the hamster to Leona. She smiled and cradled the rodent to her chest.

“Thanks! I’ll put her away and wash my hands and join you guys.”

As she got up she heard the mingling purrs of Garrus and Aelius along with chirps and Aelius telling Garrus about his day as much as his four-year-old mouth could. She couldn’t help but smile at the way Garrus paid attention to every word and treated him like he would anyone else in the crew. She went into the bathroom and the only thing she could think about was how much she loved her turian. Now, her turian _s_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little longer. Hope you enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Garrus and Leona decided to tell the crew about their new member. She sent a mass email to the crew telling them to assemble in the conference room to meet a new guest. She looked at her boyfriend who was sitting on the bed with Aelius. She could hear him talking to his nephew in a soft tone, it sounded like he was hyping him up to go to the meeting downstairs and she couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re so brave Aelius! Are you ready to meet my friends?”

The boy didn’t respond to that, he whined and Garrus stroked his mandible.

“It’s okay, you’re my best boy and they’re really nice, I won’t let anything happen to you, and neither will Leo.”

He looked over at her and she nodded. “The rest of the crew is pretty much scared of me so you’ll be good.”

She couldn’t really tell but Aelius didn’t look that much happier to hear that. She wondered how much of that he really understood. Garrus helped him off the bed and motioned for Leona to follow him. He let his nephew press the button to summon the elevator and held the door as the little one scurried inside. Leona held Garrus’s hand on the way down. She kept looking at him and saw that he looked just as nervous as Aelius did.

“The crew will go easy on him. He’s special.”

Garrus squeezed her hand but smiled at her. When the door opened he took the boy’s hand and led him past the war room and into the conference room. The whole crew, plus Wrex and Primarch Victus was there. Garrus cocked his head, “Why are they here? Didn’t we say the crew?”

Leona shrugged. “I figured that for as long as they’re on the ship they’re crew too. And do you honestly think that Wrex was gonna pass up the opportunity to see Aelius?”

Garrus sighed, “And here I thought I would be spared the ‘uncle Wrex’ speech.”

She laughed and opened the door. The crew’s conversation was halted and at the sight of the small turian, they nearly lost their minds.

“Keelah! Look at how cute he is!!” Tali squealed. Aelius gripped tighter to Garrus’s hand.

“He is pretty adorable. Hello there!” Liara was standing next to her and she looked like she was trying everything in her power to not grab the boy and kiss him all over his face. Wrex and the Primarch looked at each other.

“Well Garrus I believe I underestimated you, and you too Leo.”

Garrus scoffed, “Whatever do you mean Wrex?”

“You two found a way to pop one out in the middle of a war. And going by his age you got started early huh? I knew something was going on back on the SR1…”

Leona crossed her arms and frowned. “Wrex.”

The krogan put his hands up, “What? I’m proud of you two. Like true krogan!”

Garrus pinched his nose and shook his head. “He’s not our kid Wrex, he’s my sister’s.”

“Hah! An uncle! Your sister is the true krogan!”

Before Wrex could progress any further with the uncle Wrex speech, Leona threw her hands up and said “Okay! I called you here to welcome our new crewmate. His name is Aelius Vakarian and he’s Garrus’s nephew. He’ll be with us until further notice. I can already tell that you all will provide him lots of attention and my only rule is to please…guys please I can’t stress this enough…we want all limbs intact if you play with him.”

Garrus added quickly, “And he’s shy guys, he has never been around this many non-turians before and I’m sure that Wrex is about to give him a heart attack so be gentle, okay?”

Wrex waved him off and began marching towards the miniature turian. “Bah! Your uncle worries too much, you’re strong, right?”

Aelius grabbed onto Garrus’s leg to hide from the large krogan. Garrus nudged him a bit. “It’s alright Aelius, the scariest thing about him is his personality.”

“Not as terrifying as your uncle’s jokes.”

They laughed and Leona noticed that, and maybe he was listening to Garrus’s subvocals, but Aelius was warming up and he inched closer to Wrex. He touched his knee plate, getting his attention.

“See look at that! As brave as a warlord! Come on, Uncle Wrex is going to show you off.” Before Aelius could object or latch onto Garrus, Wrex picked him up and placed him on top of his hump, marching out of the room proudly with him. Tali and Liara followed behind him, saying something about taking pictures with him. EDI mentioned speaking to Jeff about the child, and the only people left were Cortez and James, along with the primarch.

James smirked, “Kid’s kinda cute, right Esteban?”

“You have a soft spot for kids, Mr. Vega?”

“If this kid can keep up with my workout pace he’s alright with me.”

Cortez chuckled. “Now this, I gotta see.”

They walked out of the room, leaving the primarch, Leona, and Garrus alone. Leona looked over at Garrus and saw him twiddling his claws together, she would be just as nervous if the crew was watching her nephew, or any child for that matter. She patted his arm and smirked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him, I think I can already hear Wrex teaching him how to break the ship.”

Garrus snorted. “And I can already feel Jimmy’s embarrassment at being beat by a three-year-old at pull-ups.”

“You think Aelius got him beat?”

“If he’s having fun doing it, oh yeah.”

“Huh.”

She left the room seriously wondering if Aelius could beat James at pull-ups. Garrus leaned against the table and was joined by Victus.

“Any word from Castis and Solana?”

His shoulders sagged. “No, sir.”

“Has he asked about her yet?”

Garrus sighed. “No not yet, but I’m expecting it soon.”

“I know that this might be a hard question to answer but Garrus, you and I both know this is a war. The enemies might be bigger but it’s a war like any other. If your family...doesn’t make it…”

“I’m not ready to think like that sir. I’ll keep the mindset that they’re alive, until I hear otherwise. I can’t do that to myself, or to Aelius just yet. Though, if it comes to that then, I’ll raise him. He’d be the only family I got left and I’ll be damned if I leave him in an orphanage.”

Victus nodded slowly and crossed his arms. “I’ll be more than ready to assist you in anything you need for that boy, you understand? I’ve known the both of you since you were little, and Castis is my friend. I owe it to him at least to see his family safe.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Adrien placed a hand on his shoulder and offered a reassuring smirk.

“Now, I must go and have a chat with Aelius. He must learn about the history of his people.”

Garrus laughed and followed him out the room.


	4. Chapter 4

When Leona made it to the mess hall she caught all the crew mates huddled around Aelius and her first feeling was worry, was he terrified? Was he crying for Garrus right now? She picked up the pace to shoo them away, but then she heard a sound come from Aelius that she’s never heard before.

He was laughing.

She smiled to herself and stopped in her tracks. Aelius was sat on Liara’s lap, the asari was playing peekaboo with him while Tali hopped around squealing and taking photos of them playing together. Whenever she covered her eyes he looked confused and looked around for her. She uncovered her eyes and said, “I see you!” And there it was again. He was laughing and grabbing her hands each time she went to put them back on her eyes.

“You’re so smart!”

Tali sat down next to them and ran a hand over his head. Her omni-tool was open and she was showing Liara all the pictures and videos she took of them playing the game. He was looking at the pictures and watching the two women point and laugh at how cute he was.

“Look, it’s you!” Tali said to Aelius.

“Me?”

“Yes! Keelah, you are adorable!”

Wrex was leant against the counter watching the women play with the child and waved Leona over. She put her hands in her pocket and joined him. Wrex crossed his arms and chuckled when Aelius laughed again.

“Cute kid, Leo.”

She smiled to herself, “Yeah.”

“You sure that’s not your kid?”

Her smile faltered a bit. She shook her head. “Wrex.”

“I know I know. I think, after all of this, you and pretty boy should consider it.”

“Not everyone’s thinking about baby-making like you.”

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen when we find those females, but someone’s gotta think about reproducing.”

She turned toward the elevator and saw Garrus walking toward her and Wrex. She nudged his arm and said, “Glad to know your priorities, Wrex.”

Wrex followed her gaze and saw Garrus and laughed loudly.

“Look what the varren dragged in! Pretty boy!”

“I’m not a pretty boy anymore, Wrex. I got scars now.”

Wrex gave him a slap on the back and said, “My friend, those are what makes you pretty!”

He walked back to the elevator laughing at his own joke, leaving Garrus standing there with his arms crossed and shaking his head, completely unimpressed with Wrex’s taunting. When Wrex was gone he ran a hand along Leona’s waist as he reached over to grab a tray of food. Leona watched as he unraveled the tray and looked around for Aelius.

“Aelius time to eat!”

Aelius snapped his neck at the sound of Garrus’s voice and started clicking his mandibles.

“Uncle Garrus!”

He slid off Liara’s lap, much to her dismay and ran over to his uncle, raising his arms up so that he could be carried. Garrus bent down to let his nephew latch around his neck and stood back up. Aelius was nuzzling his face and purring softly. Leona couldn’t help but laugh at how happy he was every time he saw his uncle, but then she would always think that this was his separation anxiety kicking in, when they went to bed she and Garrus would spend a little time researching just what it looked like. She knew that crying was one of his symptoms.

“Have a good time with Liara?”

“That’s aunt Liara to you!”

“…But he’s not my kid…”

“Aelius?” Liara put her hands on her hips and Aelius giggled.

“Aunt Liara! Aunt Liara!”

“Fine, fine! Aunt Liara then.”

Leona saw her smug smile at being called aunt and shook her head in response. Garrus walked over to the table and set the tray down. He spooned some of the food and held it to Aelius’s mouth. Leona couldn’t help but be a little disgusted.

“Is he…you don’t want to…I don’t know heat it up?”

Garrus shrugged. “I tried upstairs to give him some of my food but he didn’t want to eat it and so he ate his tray cold and he looked like he was enjoying himself so who am I to judge?”

“Does he want some paste then? I’m not really sure what turian children eat.”

Garrus pulled back his nephew’s mandible to show a row of small sharp teeth. Aelius whined and pulled away from his grip. Garrus stroked his head and offered him some of the food again, Aelius opened his mouth to eat it.

“Think he’s big enough to feed himself?”

“He is but he gets pretty messy and I don’t want him to make a mess.”

Leona was half tempted to let him eat the food but then remembered that she wasn’t the one that had mess hall duty so she let Garrus be. She took a seat next to them and smiled as she watched Garrus patiently feed their new crewmember. She rubbed his shoulder and asked if he was going to eat too, he replied that after his nephew ate then he would. She kissed his scar and went downstairs to the war room to see if any progress had been made. When she got there, she realized that she came at the right moment because Wrex looked like he was going to tear a hole in the ship.

“We have to get them.”

“Wrex, consider the— “

“Consider my fist in your mouth, primarch!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what’s going on here?”

“The females are dying, we have to pick up the pace Shepard!”

That’s when Leona knew he meant business. He calls her Leo mainly, but to call her by her last name means that he was pissed and she couldn’t afford to have any of her ambassadors, especially her fire support, being pissed and withdrawing help for the war effort. She was in Commander Mode now and walked over to the center and crossed her arms.

“What do you need me to do?”

“We have to get to Sur’Kesh! You, me, and your group. I won’t sit here making nice with a turian while my people are dying!”

“I hear you Wrex, but try to remember that his people are dying too. I need you both to work together for this and that means there is no room for petty arguments or grudges. Wrex, suit up and meet us in the shuttle bay. Joker! Set a course for Sur’Kesh now!”

She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, hearing Joker’s ETA as she exited. When she got in the elevator she sighed, she needed Garrus with her for this, he always had her six no matter what. But that begged the question, “What about Aelius?”


	5. Priority: Sur'Kesh

When she got back to the mess hall, she found Garrus and Aelius in the same spot that she left them in. Garrus was too preoccupied to notice her footsteps, or maybe he was too busy to acknowledge her presence. She shivered a little at the thought that Aelius will take up so much of Garrus’ time that they won’t have the already scarce free time to be together. She shook her head to expel those thoughts, she can’t afford to be having a favoritism race with a child, he doesn’t know any better, and she would feel worse with herself if she tried to get in between, quite possibly, the only family Garrus has left. She stood right behind the table and leant against the wall, watching the two turians. She noticed Garrus was gentle, much gentler than he is with her or the rest of the crew. Leona smiles sadly as she remembers one of the first conversations they ever had. He told her his worries about scaring the rest of the mostly-human crew, and how he would mainly stay in the garage, so he wouldn’t frighten them. Back then she figured that most of the crew would give him issues, racial tensions between the two races had barely died down after all, but it made her sad to think that he felt out of place on her ship, something told her that it wasn’t a feeling that he wasn’t used to and it made her feel worse.  

Another thing she noticed in the short time that the three have been together, is that Garrus’ behavior seems altered. He’s become more nervous whenever he is away from Aelius, but then again, he told her that he’s the same way when she goes on a mission without him. Still, his worry has increased since Aelius joined them on the ship. There’s also the fact that Garrus certainly makes more…noise than she was certainly used to. It started when they met on the Citadel and he started making those chirps and whines to his nephew whenever he got particularly uneasy. Then at night, when the three of them would bunker down for the night, Garrus would still purr, a little more loudly than she remembered but maybe it was so that both of his bedmates would feel more comfortable. She felt like she was making herself paranoid, and that maybe she was just channeling her anxiety at practically raising a child through Garrus’ mannerisms, but he was different, and she knew that it was because of Aelius. He was more protective of the toddler, he was super protective of her too, but there is something that’s altered in Garrus, and when she was alone later she would search more about male turians and paternity. For now, she had to tell him that she needed him, and she knew that this was completely selfish of her to do but he always told her that he had her six, and it wasn’t like Aelius would be completely alone on the ship. Liara and Tali would be more than happy to watch him.

Shit. She forgot that she was leaning against the wall, and she banged her shoulder hard trying to get her thoughts together and find her footing. Garrus looked over at her, as did Aelius. Garrus sat up, still holding the child’s tiny waist and cocked his head in the way that silently asked her if she was okay. She tried to play off the radiating pain in her funny bone and waved him off like the super professional commander she was and walked over to them, trying and failing subtly to shake the pain from her arm.

“Alright, babe?”

“Yeah, I’m alright, just uh…forgot my bearings.”

She sat on the edge of the table and twiddled with her thumbs. Garrus was finishing up the last of Aelius’s food and once the small turian was fed he hopped off his uncle’s lap and grabbed the larger hand, trying to get him to follow suit.

“Garrus can I…can I talk to you?”

“Of course. You look uneasy and that’s not a common look for you.”

Leona smiled and crossed her arms. She took a deep breath, this wasn’t going to get better for any of them if she just stood there and became mute. Wrex was growing angrier by the minute, this was a war and time was of the essence, she needed to suck it up and get it over with.

“Garrus, I just spoke with Wrex in the war room and he’s not very happy now.”

Garrus was rubbing Aelius’ hand while he was talking to her.

“Did something happen with the females?”

She nodded, feeling herself slip into Commander Mode once again and found it easier to speak to him.

“They’re dying, he got tipped off by someone on Sur’Kesh, we have to be quick.”

“We?”

And there it was, he never hesitated before, but he had to think about his three-year-old nephew. The same nephew who had horrible separation anxiety. She clenched her fist, she _needed_ him, he was her hope when they were out there. She needed to know that she was being protected and watched by him, she needed reassurance that he was with her.

“Garrus, I need you. You know that.”

Garrus looked down.

“What am I going to do about Aelius?”

“I can ask Liara and Tali to keep an eye on him.” She cursed herself for sounding more frantic and panicked now that Garrus was doubting coming with her. She knew that it wasn’t right to rely on him for her moral support, but she did, and now here they were, and she felt that if he said no she would start bawling, and that wasn’t something the commander of the Normandy should be doing in the mess hall.

“I don’t know Leo…I know that we’re all close, but I don’t know how I feel about just dropping him off on other people like that, you know, what with Liara being the new Shadow Broker and all…”

“They adore him, Garrus, he’ll be in safe hands with them.”

She bent down and cupped his face in her hands and pressed her forehead against his. She looked into his blue eyes as hard and intensely as she could, and she kissed him.

“Garrus, you always have my six…and I won’t force you to come with me if you don’t want to, so don’t feel like you’ll be tossed out the airlock if you say no.”

Garrus chuckled and she saw his mandible lift to show that he was smirking.

“Leo, you don’t have to beg me to go with you. I told you I always have your six, and I meant that. Besides, Wrex wagered that I can’t make more than ten headshots a while back and I aim to prove him wrong.”

She made an uneasy laugh and kissed him again, closing her eyes as she did it. She looked down at Aelius, who was watching the two adults silently and stroked his mandible. She stood back up and, with her new sense of relief, said, “Gear up and meet me and EDI in the shuttle bay, ASAP.”

“Yes ma’am. I ever told you that it’s super-hot when you talk to me in your commander voice?”

She only smirked and walked away, leaving him to go put her armor on. She still couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that she had, but Garrus would understand. He loves the both of them and he wouldn’t do anything to make her feel like he loved her less. She was praying that Aelius would be okay without his uncle being present on the ship for a while. When she came back down, she saw Liara and Tali standing with Garrus in front of the shuttle. Her steps grew hesitant as she listened to the conversation the three adults were having with the child. Her heart shriveled when she heard the boy’s tiny, panicked chirps and Garrus’s soothing ones trying to soothe him.

“It’s alright Aelius, what do I tell you? You’re my best boy, I love you and I’ll be back, okay? I promise I won’t be long…”

Aelius started keening, and she looked over at Garrus who looked just as distressed to hear the boy crying. She walked over to them, making sure that her steps seemed calm and collected. She stood next to a crouched Garrus and bent down to be at his level.

“Aelius, I promise that we’ll be back. We’ll come back, and I’ll let you play with Boo again, would you like that?”

Aelius was still clinging to Garrus, but she could tell that he was considering her offer. She reached out to stroke his mandible, she’s realized that he likes that.

“I need your uncle’s help to go save some people. The faster you let us go, the faster we can come back and be with you again. Isn’t that what you want?”

She looked up at Garrus, and he appeared almost despondent. He was looking down at his nephew, running a hand over his back, she could hear his purring from where she was. How badly was Aelius’ keening affecting him?

“I don’t want him to go!”

“I have to Aelius!” Garrus spoke a little louder, Leona worried that he was going to start keening next.

“I love Leona too, and I need to make sure she’s safe. Aelius I’m not going to leave you alone, we have to go save some krogan. And when I come back, I can tell about how strong and brave I was.” His attempt at light-heartedness.

Aelius looked at the both of them, and then back at Tali and Liara. He whimpered softly as he let go of his beloved uncle and joined the two women, holding their hand and staring at Leona and Garrus as sadly as he could muster. Leona sighed and looked away, the puppy dog look was universal among children, and it was making her feel worse. She placed a gloved hand on Garrus’ shoulder and the two stood up and turned to board the shuttle. Garrus turned around and gave Aelius one more wave goodbye, and Leona felt her eyes water a bit at the whole scene. She should have told Garrus to stay, but she was sure that he would be worrying about her in place of his nephew. The door closed but not before she heard his keening get louder. She looked over at Garrus who was staring at the closed door with his arms crossed, softly chirping, probably as a last attempt to calm the toddler’s nerves. Leona walked over to him and hugged him, which he was more than eager to return.

“It’s only going to get harder.”

“I know, Garrus, I know. You’re doing great.”

EDI walked over to the two of them and said, “It’s common for children of all races to exhibit this type of behavior, especially after undergoing trauma regarding the parental figure---”

Garrus sighed.

“Yeah EDI, I got it.”

He sat on the bench and Leona joined him, slipping her hand in his. Wrex was in the front with Cortez, his voice came on the comm, “I know it’s tough, pretty boy, I appreciate this.”

Garrus only grunted and squeezed her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that even if nobody reads this, this is purely a self-indulgence fic, lmao. 
> 
> I am still surprised it even has 63 kudos and 10+ bookmarks, thank you!


	6. Tali and Liara's Adventures in Babysitting!

Leona facepalmed, of course Wrex would threaten to eat the salarians. Of course, he would jump out of the shuttle with his shotgun cocked and ready to kill! _Of course,_ he would have to be stationed at the docking area because why would they trust this eight-hundred pound krogan who just threatened to kill them all for not letting the shuttle dock?! Well, now Leona was standing with a pissed off krogan warlord, and a turian that barely spoke since they left the Normandy. He said a few comforting words to Wrex just before they docked, about how he was honored to help him get the females back, and then the two quickly got into a snark-off about how they were supposed to hate each other but instead became the best of friends. After that, Leona noticed that that was really all he said. She wanted to talk to him, but it wasn’t the time nor the place, and she knew that he wasn’t going to let it mess with his ability to cover her ass in a firefight, she just worried about what happened during the downtime. He was leaning against a crate, watching Wrex and a STG worker argue over whether or not Wrex had the authority to pass. She rolled her eyes and walked over to them, holding a hand up to stop their fighting.

“Alright listen up! Wrex, I understand that you want to see the females safe and unharmed but to clear you would take too much time and we can’t sit around here and wait all day. My crew and I will go ahead and keep in contact through the comms, I promise I’ll let you know exactly what’s happening as it happens, we clear?”

Wrex crossed his arms and shook his head, she knew that’s not what he wanted to hear now, but it was better than nothing. He nodded and waved her away.

“Yeah, yeah I hear you. Just lemme know when I’m safe to gut this pyjak in front of me.”

He growled in the face of the helpless worker, who looked visibly shaken, but tried to keep his composure. She gave Wrex a look to signal that he needed to behave if he wanted to get anywhere in this situation. He grunted and shrugged his shoulders. She turned around to face the rest of her crew and found Garrus staring at two salarians talking.

“What’s up?”

“I’m just trying to figure out if my mind’s playing tricks on me, or that’s Captain Kirrahe.”

She looked over to the salarian standing in front of some crates and squinted. She patted Garrus’ shoulder and nodded.

“Good eye, hon.”

“Think maybe we could convince him to let us through?” Garrus was facing her now, his voice conveying suggestiveness. She smirked and started walking over to the captain.

Kirrahe had just finished talking to the STG agent by the time they approached. The captain looked ecstatic to clap eyes on Leona and extended his hand warmly to her.

“Ah, Commander Shepard! A pleasure to see you again.”

“Likewise, captain.”

“It’s actually ‘major’ now, commander.” He seemed proud to state the rank change and Leona took note at how everybody else got promoted except her.

“Good to see you again, Major.” Garrus’ voice came from behind her. He stepped forward, extending his hand, which Kirrahe accepted graciously.

“Garrus Vakarian! The Reapers certainly have a way of bringing us together, don’t they?”

Leona waited for the two to finish up their greeting before getting on with the task at hand. Before she could say anything more, there was a voice over the loudspeaker detecting an anomaly on the upper levels. She shared a knowing look with Kirrahe, and he swiftly allowed her clearance to take the elevator. And yet, when the doors opened, there was a bomb.

“Oh crap.” Was all Garrus could say before they all ducked for cover.

\-----

Liara and Tali were thrilled to be given the opportunity to babysit their favorite tiny turian. Granted, they never had to babysit before, let alone their friend’s nephew. But when Garrus came with little Aelius in tow, Liara found herself saying yes before she even knew what he was going to ask. Then there was the scene in front of the shuttle that broke her heart, but Garrus trusted her to keep him happy and safe, and even though he didn’t formally ask Tali, it was implied that she was also responsible for taking care of this small, defenseless turian on their ship. Well, they weren’t responsible, Garrus didn’t want to make them feel like they were put on the spot, but if they were tasked with babysitting, then by the goddess they will do their best!

But keelah, it’s hard to make this boy happy!

Immediately after that heartbreaking scene in the shuttle bay where Aelius refused to let Garrus board, he let out the loudest keen that the two women had ever heard. They had never really heard a turian cry before, Garrus was stoic when it came to things like that, truth be told they didn’t know if turians could even cry. It seemed like Aelius was dead-set on proving them wrong.

He cried, and he cried, and he cried, and it came to the point where the two came close to crying themselves. After two hours of the poor boy crying they finally had an idea to put on a movie in the main battery with Liara’s portable terminal. Liara remembered seeing Leona do the same thing the first time she was left alone with the boy. Liara looked up at Tali, who was rocking the toddler back and forth and trying to sing a quarian lullaby to him, which he was strongly resisting.

“You were so cute a few hours ago! Please go back to being that cute turian child!” Tali begged as her rocking became more panicked.

“Hold on for just a moment longer Tali, I’m trying to find a movie with a predominately turian cast to show Aelius. With luck, it’ll hold him over until Garrus comes back.”

“That can’t come fast enough!” Tali sucked her teeth and rubbed the boy’s face. “Oh, the poor thing, is this common for turian children?”

Liara was typing away at her terminal. She pulled up an extranet site for movies and scanned the screen for a movie title.

“I’m not sure, Tali, I would imagine that Aelius being on Menae at the time of the Reaper attack likely has to do with his anxiety.”

That was something both the women had to think about. Aelius was lucky in regard to the children that were caught in warzones, all those children that were lost in the attacks, or were still fighting for their lives on those planets…they forgot that those statistics on their terminal screens were real people. Liara was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Tali screech excitedly. She turned around in her chair and saw the quarian jumping up and down, making unnatural noises, and even silencing Aelius in the process.

“Tali what is that has you so excited?”

“Fleet and Flotilla! Let’s watch Fleet and Flotilla!”

Liara looked back at her screen where she saw the movie cover for _Fleet and Flotilla_ in the list of films with majority turian cast. She looked back at Tali, who was getting even more excited at the now enlarged photo, and a very confused and nervous turian child in her arms. Seeing as how they had no other alternative, Liara relented and clicked on the movie.

“Put it in sing-a-long mode, Liara please!”

“Are we going to be singing?”

“Yes!”

The asari smiled at Tali’s sheer enthusiasm for what she deemed, a corny movie. The movie loaded, and the opening credits began. She could hear Tali already humming the title song for the movie, and Aelius was looking up at the quarian who was holding him. He was humming back.

“Oh, that’s so adorable! Liara, he’s humming with me, quick take a vid! I want to show Garrus when he gets back.”

Liara already had her omni-tool out as she started filming Tali and Aelius’ duet. Maybe this movie wasn’t such a bad choice.

\-----

 “That was a really bad choice, Wrex!” Leona screamed at him over the comm, the gunfire and explosions drowning out her voice. She was referring to the Cerberus shuttle that Wrex had knocked out of the sky; it almost killed them.

“Looking back now, that shuttle was _really_ close to you guys.” He joked.

Leona let out an aggravated grunt as she came from out of cover to warp the shields of the Cerberus agent shooting at her. She looked over at Garrus who was poised and waiting for her to make her next move.

“Garrus, overload!”

With that command, she threw two Cerberus agents in the air with her biotics, and Garrus overloaded both their shields, killing them instantly.

“And stay down!” He shouted. She shot him a smile, which he returned before promptly killing more agents with two headshots. Even with an assault rifle he did not miss a beat. When they took care of the last guy, and there were a lot of them, she stood back up. Mordin was in the loading crate with the female, the last one. The crate looked no worse for wear, she made it a priority to protect that woman, and her friend with her life. They were in the landing zone, they only needed to clear Mordin one more time and they were out of there. Wasting no time, she sprinted to the other side of the pad and quickly cleared the quarantine checkpoint terminal. She wiped at her brow and was about to praise the crew for their diligence during this ordeal when she heard Garrus gasp and shout, “Heavy mech, incoming!”

With a sigh she said, “Fucking—Alright guys! We got this, one more mech and we ditch this hell-hole!”

And the faster they got the female on the shuttle and safe, the faster she and Garrus could return to Aelius. Her heart skipped a beat, this was something that she was surprised to be thinking about, it was just the way he cried when Garrus was leaving, it was her fault, she wanted Garrus to leave with her. No, Garrus would have left anyway because he loved her and wanted to protect her at all costs.

“Leona!” Garrus’ voice came in sharply over the comm and it jolted her back to reality. She was behind a barrier and the mech had just finished unloading its round.

“Leo, you alright?” He was out of breath from having to duck repeatedly from the Atlas. She nodded and said, “Yeah, yes I’m okay. Alright, let’s kick this mech’s ass and get the hell out of here!”

Both EDI and Garrus said, “Yes commander!”

\------

Two hours later, Garrus and Leona were back on the ship, searching for Aelius. Tali and Liara weren’t in their rooms, and they weren’t in Leona’s room.

“That just leaves one more spot, doesn’t it?”

Garrus sighed, “I feel like I should buy him a stuffed toy and just rub it all over me.”

Leona nudged his shoulder and laughed, “Like a bottle of cologne? Anytime he needs a reminder of you he can just give it a quick whiff and boom he’ll have the Vakarian Effect.”

Garrus shook his head and started walking towards the main battery, leaving Leona to laugh at her own joke.

“That’s actually a nice name, I’m gonna write that down!”

Garrus opened the battery doors with a hiss, and what he found was a sleeping, asari and quarian on his floor with a tiny turian wedged inbetween watching _Fleet and Flotilla_ humming to himself. Leona caught up with him shortly and couldn’t help but smile at the sight in front of her. Garrus looked more relieved than anything to see his nephew not crying for him. Leona pulled out her omni-tool and started snapping photos of the three.

“Excellent blackmail material the next time they want to make fun of my dancing.”

Garrus could only chuckle in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter! 
> 
> Also, don't hesitate to kudos/comment/subscribe or tell other friends about this if you are enjoying this! My tumblr is johnlockerooni and feel free to ask for fic prompts on there!


	7. In the Medbay

Leona couldn’t help but smile at her pictures now that she was looking at them. Of course, nobody moved since she took the pictures five seconds ago, but still, every time she opened her omni tool it was always filled with death by the numbers, videos about the reapers and all other anxiety-inducing things. She thinks that she’ll take the image of her friends and family any day. Her eyes widened, she just referred to Aelius as family. Could she do that? He was Garrus’ nephew, but what if his sister didn’t want her to do that? Was there a turian rite of passage that she had to pass to consider the rest of his family hers as well? She couldn’t even begin to think about that, the closest thing that humans had to such a rite was marriage. She groaned and placed a hand on her forehead to block the thoughts of marrying Garrus out of her head. They had a war to worry about, and at this point their odds of survival seemed slim so to even tease themselves with something that seemed so far away and hopeless…that was too much for her. Besides, was Garrus even thinking about marriage, or whatever turian equivalent they have? She knew it wasn’t true but still she couldn’t help but think about whether Garrus wanted it to be more than just a war fling. If they somehow came out of this alive, it would hurt her more than any reaper could to have Garrus leave her. She looked over at her turian and found him crouched down with his nephew in his arms, a sight becoming more normal to her by the day and talking to him in that gentle tone that she made her fall in love with him a little more each time.

“You were watching Fleet and Flotilla?”

“Yes!”

“Did you like the movie?”

Aelius nodded his head, happier that his uncle was back than anything. Garrus laughed and Leona had to grab her chest, this was too domestic for a warship and she had half a mind to put a stop to it. She could only smile in awe and love at how adorable her two turians were being. She did it again, she can’t do that yet, besides, Aelius didn’t care about her the way he cared about Garrus. He was still new to the ship, that could change any day. Why would she want him to get closer to her, when she could die at any given moment? She lived a dangerous life, and this was a dangerous time, how could she hope to think that this small child could come to love her as unconditionally as his uncle when anytime she steps off the ship could be her last?

“I like that movie too!”

Aelius gave that happy chirping noise and his eyes lit up at Garrus’ words, like he couldn’t believe that his uncle liked the same thing he liked. She chuckled into her hand at that, if he only he knew that just about every turian and quarian liked that movie. She’ll be honest, she was surprised that Garrus admitted to watching that in front of her. She’ll take that as a sign that their relationship was moving in the right direction.

“Do you watch it a lot?”

Garrus shook his head. 

“Not as much as my friends do but I’ve watched it a few times.”

Aelius looked down at his babysitters and then back up at Garrus with his big blue eyes and said, “They fell asleep and I had to watch it all by myself.”

“I’m sorry Aelius, I’m sure they didn’t mean to.”

Aelius began purring, and his purr was bit louder than Garrus’, it sounded like a kitten’s purr, maybe because his subharmonics weren’t as developed as an adult’s are. It was incredibly adorable and mixed with Garrus’ purrs at night, her room was filled with the sounds of two happy turians and it would put her to sleep faster than any white noise machine could. Said turian stood back up with his nephew in his arms and he walked out of the room. Aelius was overjoyed and resumed his usual task of nuzzling all over his face and burying himself in the crook of his uncle’s neck. Watching Garrus and Aelius, Leona had a question.

“Garrus.”

“Yeah hon?”

“So, this has always been a question I had since we first met. Your cowl…”

Garrus was stroking Aelius under his chin, listening intently to her question.

“What about my cowl?”

She clasped her hands together, trying to figure out if what she was about to say was going to offend him in some way. They did that a few times to each other, once Garrus asked her if it was normal for human females to gain weight in their hip area, a harmless question but nonetheless it earned him a prompt punch in his arm.

“Is it for children?”

He cocked his head, and stopped his stroking, much to Aelius’ dismay. The poor boy started whining and grabbing Garrus’ hand to make him commence the under-the-chin stroking again.

“I mean, I have never really seen a female turian, but in the pictures that I searched one day, their cowls are not so big as males and, watching Aelius snuggle around your neck, I wondered if you could use it to tote him around?”

Garrus looked down at the needy child, and then back up at his curious girlfriend. He shrugged and appeared nonchalant about the inquiry and Leona was so glad she dodged a bullet.

“Yeah, my cowl is used for children. It’s mainly for infants, but Aelius could crawl in there I guess, he’s still of age and he’s not too big. It would probably be uncomfortable for me though because he is barely pushing it, and I don’t think he’s going to try to huddle inside because I’m not his father.”

“So, it’s an evolutionary thing then?”

“Yeah. If Aelius was my son, I’m sure this boy would be curled up around my neck at all times.”

Leona nodded in understanding, glad that she finally got the answer to the question she’d been itching to ask for so long. She smiled and held her hand out of him to take. He had to sort of wrestle the young turian’s hands off of him.

“Let’s go upstairs okay? I’ll give you all attention you want.”

The three walked past the window where Mordin and the female were for the time being. She felt uneasy, and a bit skeptical about a genophage cure being made in time. Mordin told her back when he was in her crew that the cure could take years to make and prove effective. They had fought about the morality of the genophage on Tuchanka while they stood over the bodies of women who gave their lives for Maelon’s sick experiments. She wanted to do away with the data, it felt wrong to use the work that so many young women died for, she felt responsible even though there was no way she could have known that this was happening. Mordin told her that, as gruesome as it was, it was the closest they would get to formulating a cure, and she was mad at him for rationalizing it that way while they were standing in front of corpses. But he was right, a few lives for the many, and so they kept the information. She clenched her fist, this cure better work.

“Look, uncie!”

Leona smiled at the cute nickname. The turian looked into the window and saw the doctor and his patient. They stopped walking.

“Remember when I told you that Leona and I had to go help people? That woman sitting on the cot, she’s the person I had to save.”

Leona still can’t get over how awe-struck Aelius looked every time Garrus talked about missions. She knew that he was going to grow up and do great things too.

“You want to go meet them, Aelius?”

He nodded his head excitedly.

“Are you going to stay with me?”

Leona’s eyes darted up to her boyfriend’s face and she saw the hint of guilt in his eyes. He pressed his mouth to the boy’s fringe and nodded.

“Of course I will, I gotta protect my best boy, right?”

Garrus looked over at Leona with a hopeful look on his face. She’s gotten good at reading his face over time.

“Will my girl join us?”

She smiled coyly and nodded.

“She will.”

They entered the medbay in the middle of one of Mordin’s long-winded but incredibly hard to understand speeches.

“What about Garrus Vakarian? Intelligent, loyal, and has acquired an impressive amount of facial scarring by krogan standards.”

Leona crossed her arms and said, “I hope you aren’t trying to auction him off to our guest here.”

Mordin grinned at her mischievously and shook his head.

“Of course not commander, just providing Eve with choice mating options.”

“Which means you are trying to auction me off.”

“Think of it as political marriage. Could strengthen bonds amongst the turians and krogan alike.”

Eve snorted. 

“I will respectfully decline, doctor.”

“Oh well, worth a shot. Suppose you are stuck with Wrex for now.”

Wrex’s voice came in over the intercom, “She was always mine, salarian!”

Eve laughed quietly at the bickering males and Leona couldn’t help but join with her. The two shared a knowing glance while the men were talking. Aelius couldn’t take his eyes off Eve, Leona was sure she didn’t even see him blink. She was going to offer to take him over to her when Mordin approached the three of them.

“Ah, you two never cease to amaze me.”

Garrus looked confused a bit scared at the doctor’s comment.

“What do you mean?”

“Perhaps you did not need me to talk about interspecies intercourse. Commander, surprising that you had found time to conceive child during a war. Got started with officer Vakarian before we met? Would love to run tests on the child, surprised that it resembles his father so much, human DNA much more flexible and adaptable than turians’. Tell me, how’ve you kept him secret all this time.”

Garrus’ mandibles spread wide out of shock and embarrassment. Leona kept looking at him in hopes that he would help her out in her response, but he was equally as speechless. Aelius found something about this comical because he was laughing for some reason.

“Why is that we can’t hold a child for more than two minutes without someone assuming that I squeezed him out? Mordin, he looks exactly like a turian because he _is_ a turian. He’s also not mine or Garrus’ kid, that’s his nephew, Aelius. Say hi, Aelius!”

Aelius greatly enjoyed Mordin and for whatever reason Leona will never know. His mandibles were spread apart in the cutest smile that she has ever seen any child give and in his tiny voice he said, “Hi!”

She could faintly hear his purring underneath his words which meant that he was very happy, he was a strange kid, but she was glad that he was able to go this long without crying. Mordin looked put out at the fact that Aelius wasn’t their kid, but he reached out and shook the boy’s small hand.

“Hm, would have liked to research the first turian-human hybrid child. Oh well, maybe there will be time for that after the war?”

Leona narrowed her eyes. Are all STG agents trained to be this snarky? Mordin than cupped the child’s face in his hands and began giving him a check-up.

“Turian child, about three years of age, teeth look nice and healthy, talon growth average for children his age. Everything looks good, though, this is only a physical assessment. Can never be too sure.”

Garrus set Aelius down, and the kid scurried over to Eve.

“Be careful, okay? There’s a lot of sharp and dangerous things around here.”

“They’re going to make me feel sick?”

Garrus nodded. “Yup, you’re going to get sick or hurt, and I don’t want you to be.”

“Okay uncie!”

There was that nickname again, and there she was thinking about how adorable that name was for Garrus. Both watched as Eve looked down at the tiny turian inching his way over to her.

“Hello little one.” She sounded happy at Aelius’ approach.

“Hello. Are you sick?”

She laughed warmly at his innocent question. Leona could tell that Garrus was nervous just letting Aelius walk more than two feet away from him. She wondered if the separation anxiety worked both ways. What sounds was he making with his subharmonics? Is that what’s making Garrus so anxious?

“I am sick, child. But Dr. Solus is going to make sure I get better again.”

“He’s going to give you medicine, so you can feel all better!”

Eve bent down and scooped the boy up. Leona could tell that he was a little nervous about it, but she had a motherly feeling about her and he was quickly at ease. The female and the child started quiet conversation while Mordin gave the two adults a quick, “Ahem.”

Leona shook her head.

“Sorry, uh, what were you going to say?”

Mordin chuckled at this and responded, “A lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it's been a while since I've played the third game, I cannot remember Mordin's dialogue word for word so this is mostly paraphrasing! Enjoy! 
> 
> About the cowl thing, this is just my headcanon about them and is in no way canon so if you feel differently about it, that's fine. And for Aelius' purr, I wanted a video reference so you guys can better understand what I'm talking about! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdOQ6qtoQ4I&t=62s
> 
> Also, don't hesitate to send me stuff to my tumblr johnlockerooni. Please, share this story if you think others will like it! :)


	8. A Little Research

Mordin wasn’t kidding when he said he had a lot to talk about. She and Garrus had to sit as he gave off one of his longest rants by far. She never thought it was possible for someone to talk for thirty minutes straight and their jaw didn’t fall off! Of course, she listened as intently as she could because it wasn’t like he was talking about something absurd. He spoke about the genophage and finding a cure. He told her that it was something that he felt he needed to do, that someone else could have gotten it wrong. She knew that the joke meant much more to him, and she told him that he didn’t need to die to be forgiven, just creating a cure for the krogan was enough. He agreed, and said that the krogan had been dying for a thousand years, that was enough time to teach someone a lesson. He told her that it might be a few weeks before cure was done, but that was only a rough estimate, so it could range anywhere from a few days later to months later. They didn’t have that kind of time, and Mordin knew. She had faith that they would see the krogan cured sooner than later.

Aelius was still with Eve, and she could hear the krogan’s soft laughs still. Maybe having a kid on the ship was good for morale, she hasn’t heard so much laughter on this ship in a long time. When Mordin was finished speaking, the couple walked over to the child and his new friend. Garrus crossed his arms.

“Having fun, Aelius?”

Aelius nodded and looked back at Eve.

“She told me she liked my name!”

Eve nodded. “It’s a good name for a strong boy. A kind boy.”

Aelius chirped and looked at his uncle proudly.

“I’m going to get big and strong like my uncie!”

Leona saw the slight tinge of blue creep up in Garrus’ neck and she smiled fondly. How could Aelius not see how cool his uncle was? She even had moments where she thought he was cool. Of course, those moments were nothing compared to all the times she thought his awkwardness was adorable. Eve set the boy down and immediately Aelius was being scooped up by her boyfriend. Garrus chuckled as he gave the boy a quick nuzzle.

“Come on, my tiny warrior, let’s get some food.”

The two turians walked out of the room, leaving Leona alone with Eve.

“His nephew is adorable, commander. I’m glad that the war has not ruined all good things left in this galaxy.”

Leona frowned at that.

“I’m not so sure, Eve. He was on Palaven when the reapers attacked. His mom and grandfather are still on there, and I worry that Aelius has come away with a few battle scars himself.”

“War is an ugly thing, commander.”

“Yeah, I’m sure the krogan have seen more than their fair share of it.”

“And with your help, that will become a thing of the past.”

Leona looked down and rubbed a hand on the back of her neck. There it was. Everybody always needed her help. The galaxy always relied on her and she should be honored, how has she become so important as to be the sole savior of the galaxy twice over? It was exhausting, but she had to tell herself that it was worth it. It would all be worth it in the end.

“Assuming that the cure even works.”

Eve nodded over at the oblivious salarian who was humming to himself. She smiled, it was a familiar song.

“He has no reason to want to help us, he worked for the people that created the disease that plagues us, yet here he is, and here you are.”

Eve reached out and grabbed Leona’s hand, to her surprise. It was gloved but there was something about it that was so warm. Eve’s essence, her aura or whatever the spiritual people called it, it was something amazing. She knew that the krogan would be in excellent hands with her in charge. Wrex would be safe with her company, and that was something that Leona found herself worrying about when she thought of the man. He was her brother.

“I don’t know anything about Aelius’ family, but I know that with you, and with officer Vakarian, he is in good hands.”

“I like to think so, Eve. People I care for have a bad habit of getting hurt, or worse. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if something were to happen to him, I couldn’t bear doing something like that to Garrus.”

“Vakarian is a solider, as are you. You both know the score each time you step onto the battlefield. However, you two are strong, and together, even stronger. I have faith.”

Leona felt her eyes watering and she quickly blinked them away. She had a thing about people seeing her cry, especially for small things like somebody calling her strong. She rubbed the three-fingered hand with her thumb and gave a curt nod to show that she was okay, and that she heard every word. Eve nodded back and let her go.

“Now, I hope that you will come back later, for right now am due for more tests.”

“Just tissue sample. Will need one from male krogan as well.”

“I think you’re just enjoying it now.” Came Wrex’s voice from the intercom once again.

“Sounds good, I’ll see you later. Mordin, take care of her.”

“Understood, commander.”

She walked out of the medbay. Garrus and Aelius weren’t in the mess hall, which meant that they were in their room. She smirked at the thought, _their_ room. Before the Normandy went to Menae, she contemplated sleeping in one of the cots in the crew deck, because her room was too big and too empty, and she did nothing but think about him. She wondered if he was safe, and if he was thinking about her. If he gave up on her after he learned that she was grounded. She was glad to be proved wrong and the night after they reunited they made the slowest and most passionate love that she ever thought possible. The elevator dinged, and the metal doors slid open. She stepped in and pressed the button for the captain’s quarters. When she stepped into their room she found Garrus and Aelius eating their food on the couch.

“There are my boys! What happened, loved Mordin’s speech so much you simply had to get away?”

Garrus laughed and shook his head.

“That’s what he likes to think.”

Her smile widened as her gaze went to the tiny turian.

“What about you, Aelius, did you like my friends?”

He swallowed and chirped happily.

“I liked Eve! She told me I was strong!”

She bent down and gave his mandible a tug. His face wasn’t painted like Garrus’ face was, she figured it was a coming-of-age thing. He smiled, and his chirping progressed to clicking noises with his mandibles and she could faintly hear Garrus purring through all the noise.

“That’s right, we only let cool people hang with us. Congratulations Aelius, you’re one of us now!”

He looked like Leona blessed him. His pupils were huge, and his mandibles went slack. He looked up at Garrus and then back at her. He started clapping and hopping in his uncle’s lap.

“Uncie, I’m like you now!”

“Commander Leona Shepard recruits another into the ranks. Good job, handsome boy!” The two high-fived, and Leona felt good that she was finally making some progress with the child. She went and got her own tray from the mess hall and had dinner with them, but they finished first.

“Alright Aelius, I think it’s time for a shower.”

She knew next to nothing about children, but she found it funny that Aelius enjoyed bathing because from what she’s learned from watching movies and observing children, they hate to be bathed. She figured that he was just extremely happy right now and was less willing to upset his uncle. The toddler hopped off his lap and ran into the bathroom with Garrus following at a chill pace. When she heard the water running, she set her fork down and opened her omni-tool. She was about to type into the extranet search bar when she heard Aelius’ shrill cry from the bathroom.

“Uncie!”

“I’m sorry! Sorry! Let me just warm that up a bit…”

She laughed and continued her websearch.

_Turian child separation anxiety_

She found a forum where mothers got together and talked about being a mom and their kids and how they managed parenthood.

_Parentforthecause21 says:_

_When my child was little he couldn’t bear to be away from me for more than ten minutes. It was hellish, I had to rush home from work and found him crying all the time and the sitter was at her wit’s end. I realized that he was too used to my presence, so I started having him spend more time with the sitter and I didn’t rush to him every time he cried, and he got over it before the year was over!_

_LailaT’Shae commented:_

_That sounds like a horrible method to get rid of your child’s anxiety._

_Parentforthecause21 replied:_

_Well you’re not turian so this isn’t really your say is it?_

Leona scrolled down the post and saw that it was the original poster fighting the various moms that told her she just neglected her child for a year, and that her kid stopped seeking her out because kids pick up that they’re being ignored. Leona cringed, who knew moms could be so vicious! She backed out of that website and found an article written by a child psychologist and not a mother who took years to figure out how to parent.

_Children of all races can become clingy. It’s normal for the child to want to be serviced by their parents, to be loved and held. Naturally, a child doesn’t have the skills to know when enough is enough, which is what the parent(s) is supposed to teach them. There are many reasons why a child develops separation anxiety. Turian children however, tend to have more extreme cases of the anxiety. In my time observing and helping turian families, they are family-oriented, coming from a race and a history that is bound by tight-knit groups and relying on others to survive, going back to the time before the Unification War. Turian children are raised very closely to their parents and therefore, become dependent on them. This can last until they are around six or seven and start to undergo training for their service in the military at the age of fourteen._

_In times of war, or any other heavily stressful event can trigger a child’s separation anxiety to an escalated degree. If the child has undergone some sort of trauma, be it the sudden separation of the parent(s) or a traumatic current event, the child becomes distressed and clingy._

_Some symptoms include but are not limited to:_

  * _Anxiety/ Apprehension_
  * _Depression or fear if the parent or guardian is away for an extended amount of time_
  * _Crying_
  * _Nightmares_
  * _Palpitations_
  * _Rapid breathing/Hyperventilation_



_This is most common in young children, in some cases it has even lasted when the child was reaching preadolescence. It’s important to not ignore the child if they are exhibiting these symptoms as it can become serious to the point where hospitalization is necessary. Fortunately, it can be treated before it reaches that point._

Leona bookmarked the article and looked toward the bathroom, where she heard water splashing and Garrus sputtering, “Aelius stop it!”

She figured that Aelius’ separation anxiety wasn’t too bad, he seemed fine now. She thought about how he cried and screamed until Garrus came back, and it came to the point where they were unsure if he could even join her on Sur’Kesh. Maybe it was just him being a kid, he was only three after all. She searched turian male and children. The same forum popped up again and as tempted as she was to read more moms fighting for superiority, this was important, and it worried her because Garrus’ attitude was changing. She pulled up a site about turians and had everything from biology to their culture.

_Turian men can become increasingly possessive if they feel that their child is in danger. Often, even if the adult turian is not the child’s parent, they often assume the role of the guardian. Caring for children is something of an inborn trait present in all turians, likely stemming from our times of roaming around in large packs and clans. Even a turian that hasn’t been around children in years will automatically assume the paternal role for the child, especially if the child is under ten._

_If a turian male close to you is caring for a young turian child, their behavior will alter to better protect the child and to attune themselves to understand what the child is feeling. If the child is upset, the turian male will pick up on that and become wary and tense, searching for what is upsetting the child. If the child is sad, anxious, or even depressed, the turian male’s mood will also lower, feeling hopeless if they are unable to make the child happy, or suitably replace the absent or deceased parents._

_Another notable sign that the male is tuning themselves to the turian child is that the turian may make noises unfamiliar to the people around him. Turian subvocals can only truly be heard by other turians, though non-turians can sometimes hear the noises produced, especially those that are cybernetically enhanced. The turian male will make noises to help the child feel more at ease, be that through means by what non-turians call “chirping” and “purring” (clearly this is human speak) it is purely to help the turian get a better sense of what the child is feeling and how to soothe them._

_However, in some cases, the turian male can be prone to mood swings ranging from:_

  * _Irritation/increased irritability_
  * _Intense periods of sadness or hopelessness_
  * _Overprotection of the child or reluctance to let anyone near the child_
  * _Unease or anxiousness caused by thoughts of the child_
  * _Unwilling to be apart from the child from an extended amount of time/paranoia_
  * _Neglecting to eat/bathe/etc for fear of the child being distressed_



_I’ve been told that other races have disorders like the symptoms listed above, for example, postpartum depression. It’s not exact but to help the various races get a better picture of what could possibly happen._

Leona closed her omni-tool and grabbed a forkful of her food, mulling over what she read. Garrus didn’t quite have all of these symptoms but there were moments where she would see Garrus get really nervous if Aelius wasn’t within his line of vision for more than a minute.

“It’s normal for him to want to keep a close eye on his nephew. The kid’s been through a lot.”

Her mind went back to the shuttle bay, where Garrus looked like he was going to keen because of Aelius’ cries, and the way he stared at the shuttled door and for a moment looked like he regretted coming on the mission. She was thinking too hard about it, that’s all. This was normal behavior, her two turians were going to be okay. She couldn’t afford to think that way. Hopefully her worry would be for nothing, but she couldn’t help but scan the list and place a moment where both the uncle and nephew displayed the symptom. Her thoughts were interrupted by a tiny naked turian running out of the bathroom laughing loudly as his uncle was trailing behind with a towel.

“Aelius come on!”

His mandibles clicked as he climbed the couch and tried to hide behind Leona. She smiled and swallowed the forkful of food in her mouth.

“Low blow Aelius, don’t hide behind my girlfriend!”

“Aelius, as much as I am all about people expressing themselves how they want, you gotta put some clothes on.”

“Why?” He asked in his small children’s voice and both adults knew that this was a tactic.

“Don’t fall for his childish charms, Leo!”

Leona turned and picked up the small body, surprised that he didn’t cause a fuss at her for touching him.

“Now Garrus!”

The little boy shrieked as the older turian lunged and wrapped him up in the towel. Leona smiled at him and set him down.

“Sorry little buddy, we have a strict dress policy on this ship. If you didn’t cover up, I gotta write you up.”

Aelius made a petulant grunt at the two adults, but they were too busy admiring how utterly adorable he looked. The towel was entirely too big for him, his whole body devoured by the white cover, the only thing that was showing was his face and big blue eyes. Leona thought he vaguely resembled the alien from that movie _E.T._ He looked at Garrus and chirped.

“Alright Aelius, time to settle down. It’s pretty late.”

“I’m thinking about a trip to the Citadel, it’ll be good to restock and let the crew stretch their legs while we have time to breathe.”

“Sounds good, I suppose I have to buy the little one some more clothes.”

Leona smiled and Garrus walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss. He walked over to the bed and gently suplexed the child onto the bed. She finished off her meal and watched as Garrus playfully wrestle with Aelius, who was still wrapped up in the towel surprisingly. Her mind couldn’t help but wander to the articles she read. Everything was going to be okay.

She was worried.


	9. Good Morning!

She woke again to the feeling of being alone in her bed. The side where Garrus slept was unmade, but in his place, there was no tiny turian and she was dismayed at that. She yawned and rubbed the crust of sleep from her eyes as she sat up and scanned the room. It was silent in the room, not even the ticking of her alarm clock made any noise, or maybe it did but she was too distracted to notice. Where was Garrus? Where was Aelius? She figured that anywhere the small one was, the big one was sure to follow. Before last night she would have thought it cute, but then she didn’t really know much about turian parental behavior. No, not parental, Garrus wasn’t his father. Oh. Her eyes landed on Garrus sleeping with Aelius cradled in his arms on the couch. She smiled out of relief, but then her brows furrowed at the sight of them not in the bed. Was it because of her? Did she hog the blankets again? Garrus told her that it wasn’t that big of a deal, but what if Aelius couldn’t sleep because of that? Was she kicking them too roughly? She usually thrashed when she had nightmares and would feel bad in the morning if she saw Garrus sporting a bruise or two on his arms and legs, she gasped. What if she kicked Aelius by accident? She didn’t dream last night, but she also had times where she couldn’t recall what she dreamed, it was just the sight of a sweaty pillow and a worried Garrus that let her know just what kind of night she had. When did he get out of bed and how didn’t she notice? She wasn’t a light sleeper, even though she should be, but she wasn’t in such a deep sleep as to miss the dipping of the bed. She relied on Garrus’ purrs to lull her to sleep, which they did, but as soon as the sound stopped she should have woken up and seen what was wrong. Was it her fault? Something was always her fault.

She was wearing his shirt again, at this point it was now hers. She stole plenty of his shirts in the time they’ve been together, and it was a wonder that Garrus kept letting her and that he had so many shirts to begin with. She didn’t think Aelius would mind if she was wearing nothing but her underwear, but she felt weird just shoving her boobs in the boy’s face, even if he didn’t quite know what boobs were. She stood in front of the couch and crossed her arms, wondering if she should wake Garrus up or if she should get dressed. She had to tell Joker that they were going to the Citadel and that would take a while. Opting to leave the two alone for a moment longer, she threw on her workout shorts and made her way to the bridge. Leona made the choice when she was first assigned the Normandy that she was going to dress however she felt, except in cases where she needed to show off her commander status. She was a person and a soldier just the rest of the crew and she didn’t want them to think that she was this unattainable person by constantly wearing suits and formal attire when she was on the ship. She liked to be comfortable, she wanted them to know that she too eats, sleeps, and shits just like the rest of them. Anderson was proud of her when she told him that. He was the only one that was always proud of her. She missed him, and she hoped that he was giving them hell back on Earth. One day she’ll be back to join him.

She always wondered if Joker slept in an actual bed on the ship, or if he literally slept in that chair as well. If he did, EDI would no doubt have some very good footage of him dreaming and she made a mental note to ask later. Joker looked back at her and smiled. He swiveled in his chair and said, “Well the commander decided to finally join us, and it’s only the middle of the afternoon!”

Leona rolled her eyes.

“We’re in space, Joker. How could you possibly tell if it’s the afternoon?”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon somewhere.” He mumbled.

“Anyway, set a course for the Citadel for some shore leave and restocking.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice, commander!” With glee he swiveled around and started punching in the coordinates for the space station and gave her a short nod before going on about his duties.

“What that’s it?”

“Leo?”

“Not gonna rag on me some more for coming straight out of bed down here?”

Joker laughed into his fist.

“With all due respect ma’am, you’re doing a good job of that on your own.”

“Fuck you, Joker.”

“I love you too.”

She rolled her eyes and walked back towards the elevator, thinking about that cup of coffee that she wanted so badly. She shook her head, she should go back to her boys, if they were still asleep. Garrus wasn’t a fan of sleeping in, but she wasn’t sure how long he slept either. She went back to her room and found them still sleeping, the kid tightly cradled still in his arms. She smiled and gently placed a hand on the adult turian’s mandible, tracing the lines of his markings. He twitched slightly, and she didn’t miss the way his hold tightened around his nephew.

“Garrus, hey, time to get up.”

He moaned, and his mandibles fluttered. She turned her hand over so that it was her knuckles brushing against his face and she sighed when she felt him nuzzle against the touch. He was so adorable!

“Morning.” His eyes opened, and his blue eyes were staring right into her green ones and she felt the warmth and love radiating off of him. He pulled her hand off his face and pulled her so that she was closer to his mouth. The kiss was a bit sloppy since he had Aelius in his arms and his body was half off the sofa. She smiled into the kiss and breathed, “Good afternoon, actually.”

“Uh, honey we’re in space.”

She shrugged and stood back up.

“It’s the afternoon somewhere.” She laughed in her head at the recited joke. Garrus yawned again, his face reminiscent of a cat’s, he tried to sit up as slowly as he could without waking up his sleeping nephew.

“I gotta ask Gare, why are you two on the couch?”

“I’m sorry Leo, he was got a bit…kicky last night so I moved him but that just pissed him off and I didn’t want him to wake you up, so I put him on the sofa.”

“And he ended up in your arms because?”

“Well, I, ah…I got nervous leaving him on the couch alone, and I think he’s gotten used to my scent because he cried a little when I put him down. I couldn’t just leave him like that.”

_Unwilling to be apart from the child from an extended amount of time._

She shook her head. No, it was reasonable, and it was responsible on his part. She probably would have called him out if he _did_ leave Aelius alone on the sofa. Would she have? Who was she to nag him about raising a child when she knew next to nothing about that, let alone a child from another species? Garrus caught her worried look because he cocked his head and squeezed her hand.

“You okay?”

She blinked and nodded

“Yeah, of course, I was just thinking about an article I was reading last night.”

“Oh.”

She gave him a pat on the head and then walked to her drawers. She had to change, she wanted some coffee and she wanted to get the thoughts of her reading out of her head. She didn’t know why she did it to herself. It was in her nature to overthink anything, especially when it came to people she cared about. Now she was going to spend the whole day worrying about Garrus and Aelius, she wouldn’t be able to have any fun with them. She would assume that everything Garrus did was because he was of his paternal instinct, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to enjoy the moment of peace that they had. It was only his nephew, so far, he was doing a very good job at keeping him happy. If he needed help he knew that he could come to her, right?

She needed coffee.

“I’m going to head downstairs and make some coffee.”

“I’ll join you, I should get something to eat for Aelius.”

“That’s alright hon, I’ll go and get you two some food. He’s sleeping, and I remember him being easy to wake the last time I was alone with him.”

How long ago was that? Garrus thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.

“You have a point. He didn’t get much sleep last night, are we still going to the Citadel?”

She nodded, letting the tension flow from her just a bit. It wouldn’t do either of them good if she was acting like something was wrong, because nothing was wrong.

“I just went to tell Joker to set a course earlier. We have a few hours until we get there, hopefully our little buddy will stay asleep till then. I would hate to ruin his sleep.”

Garrus looked down and rubbed his hand along the back of the boy’s head. He nuzzled Aelius’ forehead and even still, Leona couldn’t get over how tender he looked. He was a tender man, he loved a lot and it was something she learned about him after they reunited on the SR2. She came back to him at his lowest and she knew that it was because of her, because he loved her, and he thought that he would never see her again. She felt the same when she was stationed on earth. He was a great man and she was glad that she got him back.

“I’ll be quick, don’t want to be away from my boys for too long now do I?”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

She flashed him a brief but warm smile. She wasn’t ready for such domesticity in such an ugly timeline. There were people who couldn’t have this anymore, who longed for the days where they could witness a scene like she was. She left before she started to hate herself for enjoying such soft moments.

God she really needed some coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays and a very happy new year guys! I know this is short, but I will try to make up for it by having a slightly longer chapter. I hope you enjoy and have a great start to 2k18!


	10. Panic

The Citadel was a lot more packed than Leona and Garrus had ever seen. She sighed, it couldn’t be helped. People were running from the war and that was shown in different ways. For some, it meant begging to let their family take refuge in the docking bays, for others it meant going to Purgatory more than they normally would have. She should be mad seeing people go to movies and clubs and getting drinks when every second that passed millions of people lost their lives. She should be screaming at them to do more for the war effort instead of going to see _Blasto_ for the hundredth time. But then she would stop and watch a group of asari roommates, or human and turian co-workers and see that they weren’t doing it to have fun. They were _scared._ Everybody was scared, everybody knew that in the blink of an eye everything they know could be destroyed, _they_ could be destroyed. Maybe they weren’t rushing to the frontlines to stop an unstoppable foe, or cramming their homes full of refugees who still think the Reapers are coming for them. They weren’t eager to volunteer in a hospital packed to the brim and running low on supplies just to watch innocent people die. So maybe they did go for drinks after work, maybe they were throwing parties every night, maybe they were just choosing to stay home for a quiet night in. People were people, she realized, no matter the species. They didn’t want to be reminded of their impending doom, of constantly hearing the news updates of more planets being destroyed. She could forgive them, if she lived on the Citadel and wasn’t the one leading the war on the Reapers, she would probably be distracting herself too.

Garrus grabbed her hand. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. He was holding his nephew in his other arm, Aelius looked around enamored with the diversity of the Citadel. Garrus chuckled at the boy’s face and nuzzled his head softly. It was good to be out and just walk. Leona hadn’t done that since she’d been grounded on Earth. The hand that wasn’t latched on to Garrus’ was shoved in her sweater pocket as they strolled the Presidium. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe that this place had a giant Reaper in it a few years ago. Right now, she had trouble believing that there was a war going on herself.

“Uncie look! It’s Aunt Liara!”

Aelius chirped and pointed at an asari woman who clearly wasn’t his beloved Liara. Garrus purred softly and shook his head.

“Sorry to burst your bubble little man but that’s not Liara.”

Leona couldn’t help but frown at the child’s reaction. He was excited, but then his mandibles clicked in confusion at his uncle, and then he looked downright disappointed. She had to cheer him up, he was so happy.

“Aww, cheer up Aelius, Liara is here somewhere. Tell you what, we can call her and have lunch with her after we do some shopping, okay?”

He stared at her, contemplating the perks of being patient. He eventually came to the conclusion that her logic was sound, and he nodded. He nestled his head into the crook of Garrus’ neck and settled down for a bit.

“Remember what I said about him not being used to aliens? I have a feeling he’s going to be doing that a lot today.”

“It’s cute, and who knows, he might actually spot some of our crew.”

Garrus chuckled at that.

“Bonus points if he spots Liara in a group of other asari.”

They walked until they found a children’s clothing store. Garrus stopped in front of it, tugging his small human girlfriend with him.

“We should buy him a few items, shouldn’t we, handsome?”

Aelius nodded, happy at the prospect of being treated. He did come with a small bag of clothes, but there was no reason why he couldn’t have more. He was having a hard time adjusting to life on the Normandy, what with being exposed to new races, as well as having to cope with his uncle constantly deploying on missions with Leona. She felt guilty about that, even more so now after reading up about separation anxiety. She nodded even though Garrus was already pulling her into the store. He was browsing through the clothing racks while Aelius surveyed the new area carefully. There were a lot of people in the store too, no doubt trying to replace their war-torn clothing and to remind themselves that they were out of the reach of the Reapers. She looked around and noticed that there were a few donation bins around the store for the children caught during the initial attacks. She smiled to herself at how full they were, some of them were even over-flowing. The residents of the Citadel, especially on the Presidium, were wealthier than those that lived elsewhere, like the Wards. To them their donations were probably more a political power move than doing it out of the good of their heart, but she couldn’t be picky about their reasons.

She watched as Garrus picked up several outfits that looked to be Aelius’ size. He huffed and looked around the store.

“I’m going to go ask that assistant if she can get a different size from the back. This is just one size too small for him.”

He draped the outfit over his arm and rubbed his nephew’s back in soothing circles.

“You’re going to be alright, Leona is going to take good care of you okay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Garrus started purring and she couldn’t help but get nervous too. Was Aelius going to have a fit? The store was crowded today, maybe she could hold him high enough so that he could track Garrus while he went to get help. She held her arms out with the most comforting smile she could muster. Her boyfriend looked her in the eyes as he carefully passed Aelius into her arms. Almost immediately he started keening. She had hoped that Garrus would double-time it when he first heard the distressed sound, but he seemed frozen in place, likely thrown off by the sound of his nephew’s crying. She held his arm and said, “Garrus the faster you get help, the better Aelius will feel.”

He blinked at her and then nodded, slowly walking toward the asari store clerk. Leona was trying to calm Aelius the best that she could. She didn’t have the ability to purr like he did, and she was positive that he was making all types of noises that only the other turians could hear. She would see a few of the turians around them look at Aelius, and then her and she could have sworn they thought she was abusing him. She was growing increasingly worried and it felt like Garrus was taking much longer than he probably was. God, he could hear Aelius’ whining and she was sure that it was killing him inside. She wanted to let the boy watch his uncle so that he would know he wasn’t going far, but there were so many people and when Garrus disappeared behind the horde of shoppers, Aelius let out a high-pitched keen.

“Shhhh, it’s going to be okay, your uncle is coming back. Uncie’s coming, alright?”

It felt strange to say that nickname because it felt like that was a word only to be said between nephew and uncle. But above all else, she wanted him to become more comfortable with her, and right now, it was failing miserably. She tried to sway gently, to at least lessen his crying but then he started to call for his uncle. She wanted to leave the store but that would only make it worse wouldn’t it?

“Aelius please, he has to do this!”

“Uncie! I want my uncie!”

“Aelius he has to ask the store clerk something!”

Her heartrate was rising, she wasn’t equipped to deal with this. It was breaking her heart, and she wanted him to get over it, but she’s never had to deal with something like this! Poor Garrus, she could only imagine what he was thinking. After watching Garrus and the asari woman walking off, Aelius all but screamed his uncle’s name in the middle of the store. All eyes were on her now, turian, asari, and human alike and she was sure that she was going to end up on that parenting forum and be hailed as the ‘worst parent of the year’. Nothing she was doing was working, and she had to walk out of the store not surprised that Aelius started screaming when they entered the Presidium. She felt the tears in her eyes but blinked them away. She hated that she was panicking this much, she knew this was going to happen! Garrus wasn’t even that far away and he was this frightened of being away from him. She pressed her ear to his chest and his heart wasn’t racing, but it wasn’t calm either. She paced in front of the entrance of the shop trying to get him to calm down, but feeling like she was only making it worse.

“You’re going to be alright, it’s okay Aelius please settle down...”

She felt like everyone on the Citadel was staring at her now and she was very close to joining him when she heard Garrus’ voice. In an instant he was back, scooping the crying child out of her arms and holding him close to his chest.

“Look, look I’m right here! I’m right here it’s okay! You’re my best boy Aelius, it’s going to be okay…”

Aelius was whimpering into his neck and tried to bury his face as deep as he could. Leona slowed her breathing and tried to rub the redness away from the rims of her eyes. It takes a lot for her to get so worked up, but Aelius managed to do it in less than ten minutes. The few shoppers that were staring at her went about their business once Garrus stopped his crying. She wonders if one of them were going to call C-Sec on her if Aelius kept crying. He rubbed her arm as a small act of comfort. She smiled at him and gave his hand a pat. Shopping was going to be difficult if he couldn’t be away from Garrus for longer than five minutes. She noticed though that Garrus came running from the store and sounded just as scared as his nephew did. Did Garrus think she was hurting him in some way? Or was this just another symptom like the article said it would be? She wished she could stop seeing the bullet points every time they acted like this, but she cared for them both and it pained her to see them like this. Would it escalate drastically by the time they had to deploy again? She couldn’t stand to think of a squad that Garrus wasn’t on, from the moment he joined her on the Normandy she had him at her six, and he did a damn good job too. She trusted all her crewmates with her life, but there was a special connection she had with him all those years ago. She’s glad that she realized what connection it was.

“It’s okay, I had the sales assistant store it on layaway for me once she heard Aelius. I can go back later when he’s asleep.”

He was trying to reassure her, tell her that it wasn’t her fault. He was a sweetheart and it made her happy that he is still being just as mindful about her emotional state as his nephew.

“He was crying so much Garrus.”

“I know, I know.” He was speaking to her softly and carefully so that they could enjoy the rest of their day out. She didn’t really want to talk about it right now, she was still coming down from her initial panic. When they were in the privacy of their cabin, then she would tell Garrus how scared she was, and how she completely overreacted, and he would comfort her the best he knew how. For now, they were going to enjoy their day. Her omni-tool blinked, she pulled it up. It was a message from Kaidan.

_Hey Leo, just letting you know that I’m up and moving again. Would love to chat with you again if you have the time._

“We should go visit Thane and Kaidan at Huerta.”

Garrus hummed and nodded.

“It would be good to see them again, after I was thinking about lunch with Liara, since Aelius seemed so excited about her earlier.”

Her smile came a little easier to her lips this time and she was starting to feel a bit better. He really was a comforting presence.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the patience and the continued support! :)


	11. Catch Up

Huerta Memorial Hospital was the biggest hospital on the Presidium and one of the best on the Citadel, but when Leona stepped inside it seemed so small and cramped. Everywhere she looked there were cots with people lying on it either dead or writhing in agony. Other patients that were in a more stable condition sat on the floor, or helped the nurses and doctors as best as they could. People were crying, screaming, and for a moment she wondered if it was a good idea to bring Aelius here. Thankfully the floor that her two friends were on wasn’t the one they entered. Maybe they were somewhere quieter, without so much death. She wanted them to be spared while they were healing, Kaidan was in the hospital because of her anyway. They were in the elevator and she looked up at the little turian, who was also staring back at her with those bright blue eyes. She held her hand up to him with a soft smile. He hesitated at first, but she watched his tiny hand grab two of her fingers. Garrus was staring at the door, rubbing a hand on Aelius’ back. She wondered and hoped that he wasn’t still upset about what happened at the store.

The doors opened, the boy let go of her fingers, she was a bit saddened at that. They stepped out and scanned the lobby-like area for the floor. She was walking a little bit ahead of Garrus looking for Thane. They didn’t get far when they heard a familiar voice.

“Ah, commander Shepard how can I help you toda—”

It was Dr. Michel who was the first to greet them. She was very good at what she did, and Leona respected her for it. What she didn’t respect was the way the woman looked at her man. She didn’t know that they were together, they didn’t exactly shout it from the rooftops to anyone that wasn’t the Normandy crew. Upon seeing the turian, Michel’s question died on her lips and Leona saw her pupils dilate to twice their size.

“Oh my, Garrus?”

As cordial as possible, Garrus walked up to her with a smile on his face and an outstretched hand.

“Dr. Michel, pleasure to see you again. I hope you’re doing well?”

Her cheeks were the same color as her hair when he spoke. She stammered and took his hand a bit more eagerly than Leona would like. All these years later and she was still infatuated with him. Leona would have judged her, had she not gone through the same thing herself.

“Yes, I am fine! Even better now that you’ve showed up.”

Leona smirked and looked up at Garrus who was as oblivious as ever at the obvious come-on.

“That’s good to hear. I’m sure things have been rough here lately.”

She sighed and placed the back of her hand to her forehead to show just how tired she truly was.

“It has been very trying on the rest of the staff here, but we are doing the best we can and all we can for the patients that we receive.”

“I’m glad.”

She gave him another small smile, but then her eyes wandered to Aelius. Leona wondered why it took her so long to notice him in the first place, and why she was being ignored as well. Michel came to her first!

“Oh.”

“Is there a problem?” Garrus cocked his head. She shook her head and laughed nervously.

“I had no idea that you were…a father.” She said it like it was something to be ashamed of. Would she have dropped him if he was? Leona wanted to say he was their kid, but this wasn’t the time to be petty.

“I’m not. This is my nephew, Aelius. He’s staying with us for a while.”

Leona nodded slowly watching the light return to her eyes when he denied having a child. She’d be lying if she said that Michel wasn’t gradually pissing her off by blatantly hitting on Garrus. She still remembers the email she sent asking for Garrus’ new contact info.

“How nice of you to take him under your care. I’m sure that you are taking very good care of him.”

While Michel was trying and failing to advance in her relationship with Garrus, Leona looked toward the lounge area and saw Thane practicing some fighting moves. This was her chance to end this conversation. 

“Dr. Michel, I’m sorry but we’re here to visit some friends.”

“Oh, yes! As I promised, I checked up on Major Alenko and he is doing much better. He’s able to walk around as he pleases now, although I am still monitoring his implant and would advise that after he’s discharged to hold off on using his biotics excessively. Other than that, he is making great progress and should be discharged in a few weeks.”

Leona nodded again, and her smile was much friendlier now that she wasn’t flirting with Garrus.

“I should go see to a patient, hopefully I will you both again soon!”

By _both_ she really meant Garrus. Leona continued walking without giving her a reply. She made her way to Thane since he was the first she spotted. Garrus followed closely behind her cradling the child to him. She smiled at the sight of Thane punching the air, even though he was very ill, he still managed to make his hits look just as deadly as the day they met. When he caught sight of her, his hands were clasped behind his back and he returned her smile.

“Siha, it is good to see you again. Garrus as well.”

“Likewise, Thane. You look good.” Garrus replied genially.

She ran up to him and gave him a hug, so relieved that he was still alive, that he was okay. She worried about him constantly on Earth. She wondered if he were dead and nobody could get through her comm channel to tell her. It would kill her if something were to happen to him or any of her other crewmates and she wouldn’t be able to see them one last time. They were her family, and she didn’t know where she would be without them.

“Thane, how are you?”

They pulled away and his smile was smaller.

“I’m more worried about you, when I learned about the Normandy being grounded, I tried to contact you but never got a reply. Are you alright?”

“The alliance pretty much imprisoned me regarding the events that transpired with the Alpha Relay in the Bahak system. Had there been any other solution I would have considered it, but the Reapers were coming in two days. We would have been wiped out if I hadn’t destroyed that relay.”

Thane placed a hand on her shoulder, warmth emanating from him and she remembered just how much she missed having him on the Normandy. She sighed, reflecting on the events that transpired with Dr. Kenson and truly wishing that it didn’t have to end that way.

“It was a necessary precaution. By destroying that relay we would have stood no chance against the Reapers, you bought us the extra time.”

She rubbed at her arm and mumbled, “And look at what good that ‘extra time’ got us.”

Garrus chimed in with as gentle a tone as he could.

“That’s not on you, Leo. That’s on the Alliance and the rest of the galaxy choosing not to listen to you until the last minute. Bureaucracy is the worst.”

“I agree with Garrus, siha. We cannot dwell in the past, what’s important now is that I am finally able to see you again after six months of uncertainty.”

She didn’t respond to that but hearing him say it made her feel better. She missed him a lot. He was one of the main reasons why she confessed her feelings to Garrus. When she heard the story about how his wife jumped in front of his target, she couldn’t help but think about the turian on her ship. The turian that was angry and sad and hurt about the fate of his team. She didn’t let him kill Sidonis because he wasn’t a killer, he was so much more to her than that and she knew that in the future he would come to regret it. Thane was the one who told her that Garrus was doing as he did when he was killing targets, he was “sleeping” just as he did when he left his family and abandoned his son. Thane was the one who urged her to not let him make the same mistakes, there was still good in him and she agreed entirely.

“Come, sit. Introduce me to your new guest.”

His hand gestured to the small turian that resembled a koala on Garrus more than anything. She chuckled and rubbed his back slowly. Garrus cleared his throat.

“This is Aelius.”

Thane looked surprised for a second and said, “Oh my. Siha, perhaps you did not need my advice on the SR2---”

“He’s not our kid!” She interjected quickly. She was going to have to deal with this with everyone she knew apparently. She was thinking of sticking a large note on her forehead that said, “I AM NOT HIS MOM” in all capital letters.

“You’ll forgive me for assuming so. Is he your nephew then, Garrus?”

“He is. He’s under my care for a while.”

They were hesitant to even say the word “mom” around him for fear of what sort of response it would trigger from him. He still hasn’t asked about her yet, and Leona can credit that to Garrus’ presence being comforting and distracting. She could agree with Aelius on that. Garrus grabbed Aelius and let him stretch his legs.

“Do you want to meet my good friend Thane?”

Aelius looked up at him apprehensively. Thane laughed and held his gloved hand out for the small child.

“It’s alright, I won’t bite.”

Leona rubbed the top of his head and tried to urge him over. With careful steps, looking back to make sure that his beloved uncle was still within his peripheral, he walked over to Thane and grabbed his webbed fingers with his clawed ones. Thane turned his hand over to give Aelius a polite handshake.

“It’s very nice to meet you Aelius, my name is Thane Krios.”

“Hello. Are you my uncle’s friend?”

“I am.”

Even though Aelius and Thane stopped shaking hands, Aelius was still holding onto Thane’s.

“Why are you in the hospital?”

Leona and Garrus watched as Thane considered and answered his questions as politely as possible. He had more experience with children than the two of them did combined, considering he was a father.

“Because I’m sick, and I’m here to get better.”

“Are you sad?”

All the adults paused at that. It wasn’t unusual that children normally asked deep questions, without intending to be deep. Children were also more in-tune with emotions, seeing as how they learn from their environment. Leona figured that turian children especially were able to pick up the feeling of the room better than most children and adults because of their ability to listen to subharmonics. Or maybe Thane was just genuinely sad and the other two grown-ups were too polite to ask him about it. Thane just smiled at Aelius and scooped him up into his lap. Leona was surprised that Aelius let him do that so freely, but Garrus was sitting directly across from him so that put him at ease.

“I was sad at first. Nobody likes being sick, Aelius. But I’m alright now. I was more worried about Leona and your uncle and if they were safe. My son comes to visit me, and he is happier now. So, no little one, I’m not sad anymore.”

Aelius looked up at him completely awe-struck. She was so glad that her friends and crewmates treated Aelius with so much warmth, she would never forgive herself if he was unhappy under her watch and care. It hurt a little though, to see Aelius warm up to them faster than he did her. Maybe she was thinking too hard about it and it was just his nerves getting the best of him. She could relate.

“How are you feeling these days, Thane? Really.”

He was rocking his knee to keep Aelius calm. Garrus was reclined back in the chair probably content that Aelius was happy.

“I am doing better than before I started my treatment. One doctor gave me three months to live nine months ago.” He was smug at that and she was glad to see that he had such a positive outlook.

“Are you in pain a lot?”

“At times. It becomes hard to breathe some moments, and I get light-headed other times. Since I’ve come here, those moments have become few. With daily exercise I am able to keep in shape and keep myself healthy.”

“But you are okay, right?” Garrus asked. Just as worried about his ex-squadmate as Leona.

“I’m fine Garrus. Really.”

She knew it would be a long shot, but she wanted to ask him, just once so she could get it out of her system. She really did miss having him onboard.

“Do you think you’d be able to join me on the Normandy one more time?”

His short chuckle was proof that even he knew that she was being foolish. He shook his head and said, “I’m sorry siha, but even if I were to join you again on the Normandy, I would need around-the-clock treatment and would be useless to you on missions. However, I wish the best of luck to you and your crew in stemming the Reaper invasion.”

“So even if I asked for your help assembling the Crucible, it would also be a no, huh?”

“I’m afraid so siha. Would that my health in a better condition I would join you in a heartbeat. That is not my destiny, but it is yours.”

She sighed, saddened that she wouldn’t get him back on the Normandy. She supposed that it was selfish of her to ask him to join her when he very clearly needed intensive medical treatment. Not even the medbay could provide that for him. She sighed and stood up.

“I’ll leave you to it then, I have to go visit Kaidan.”

“Ah the L2. I have been keeping an eye on him, he will have many enemies who will no doubt try to reach him here.”

“Thank you, Thane. Really, I appreciate it.”

“Think nothing of it, siha. This is but a small thing I could do in return for all that you’ve given me. Take care of yourself in your journeys. I would hate for the both of us to be stuck in the hospital.”

“On that we can both agree.”

Garrus stood back up and gave Thane a familial handshake.

“Come on Aelius, we have to go meet our other friend, Kaidan.”

“Can I stay with Thane for a little while longer?”

Garrus crossed his arms and nodded. He sat back down and smiled at his nephew.

“Sure, we can, handsome. Leo, we’ll catch up with you in a bit. I want to chat with Thane anyway.”

“No problem, I’ll see you in a bit.” She waved at them and set off for Kaidan’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading please kudos/subscribe/comment if you can


	12. Catch Up (pt.2)

When Garrus didn’t go with Thane, the drell smiled and started to rock his knee to keep Aelius entertained. The older turian took his seat back in his chair and watched as Leona walked down the hall into Kaidan’s room. Thane watched Garrus’ line of view and then looked back at him.

“Are you nervous about something, Garrus?”

Garrus looked at him, stunned at being pulled out of his thoughts so suddenly. He opened his mouth and stammered what he thought were words. He gave up and shook his head, carefully trying to think through what he wanted to say next.

“What aren’t I nervous about these days?”

“I think I have a clue. Tell me, perhaps I could ease your mind.”

“For starters, what does a guy do when his girlfriend pushes herself to her limits every day and refuses to sleep and eat properly?”

“Have her habits become so bad?”

“She’s looking a bit thinner these days...”

Both men looked down, unsure of what to say next. Thane picked his head back up and grabbed Aelius’ tiny hand in his.

“She’s going through a lot now. Uniting a galaxy is something not even the most skilled politician could do.” 

“I think the term ‘skilled politician’ should be considered some sort of oxymoron.”. He ran a hand over the scarred side of his face and looked towards the room that she was in. He should join her, but he hadn’t seen Thane in so long, he was his friend too. He was partially the reason why he even garnered the courage to confess his feelings to Leona in the first place. He wanted to see Kaidan too, but he had a feeling he would see him on the ship shortly either way, this might be the last time he would ever see Thane again.

“Only she truly understands what she’s feeling, Garrus. It’s your job as her mate to understand with her, and on days where she seems lost, to guide her. I’m sure you’re aware of how grateful she is to have you.”

 “I hear you Thane, I just wish I didn’t feel so helpless sometimes. I’m not one for comforting words, it’s just not…something I’ve been accustomed to hearing. But I look at her and I can see she’s struggling and I feel like I’m making it worse.” Garrus sighed a laugh at his words. “You just called me her mate, that’s a pretty serious thing to us turians.”

“Are you and Leona not serious?”

“I don’t…really…know, exactly. I, uh, I just never thought it right to ask her now, what with the shitshow that’s going on with the galaxy. You know a wedding can be even more stressful than a Reaper invasion.”

He always felt a bit like an ass whenever he made a joke about the invasion. A million people were being eviscerated while he made that quip, his own homeworld was being destroyed as he sat and talked with Thane. He makes a point to ease up on the reaper jokes but then he figures that he’s helping the galaxy with everything he’s got, maybe a coping joke or two wouldn’t hurt.

Thane smirked.

“Aelius, I believe your uncle has something he needs to say. Speak your mind, Garrus, you’ll find no judgement from me. At least, not aloud.”

Garrus couldn’t help but chuckle at the drell’s sass. His sense of humor was something that surprised him, even now. He supposed that the man couldn’t spend his last days brooding.

“Turians bond for life. Once we’re mated, that’s it. Humans…I did some research about their bonding rituals and they marry as many spouses as they want. What if she doesn’t want anything serious? What started between us was supposed to be casual. We hookup, then we go about our business, no strings attached.”

“She doesn’t seem to mind you calling her your girlfriend.”

“She’s probably being nice about it. She’ll break it off with me gently, in private and I’ll just make a joke about it and then wallow in the main battery.”

This isn’t Thane’s problem, Garrus knows that. This isn’t his business and not something he should be worrying about, not even something Garrus himself should be worrying about. He wants to stop talking about it because now he’s going to worry about it for the rest of the day and it’s going to bother him, but he won’t tell Leona. He won’t burden her with childish insecurities. At least, not until he’s had more time to think about it. Thane looked at him like his mom used to. Like she knew more than him, and she did. Maybe Thane knew more about him than he did himself. He looked down at Aelius and ran a gentle hand over his head.

“Perhaps, you’re thinking too much into it, and giving her too little faith. She’s not a woman to toy with emotions. From my time on the Normandy, you two have had…sufficient enough alone time, and I imagine that your private time has only increased since then. If she didn’t want to continue your relationship, then I doubt she would let it go so far as to let you call her endearments that make her uncomfortable.”

Thane handed Garrus’ quiet nephew back to him, the boy nestling his face as much as possible into his uncle’s neck, purring and chirping loudly upon contact. Garrus pressed his forehead to the smaller one and closed his eyes, purring himself. Thane yawned and looked at the clock.

“I apologize, it’s time for me to get some rest, doctor’s orders I’m afraid. Come back later, I’ve missed our talks, Garrus, and the little one is more than welcome to accompany you.”

He rose from his chair, Garrus doing the same. Thane looked down at Aelius and shook his hand politely. Before Garrus turned to leave, he looked at his friend, who had his back turned to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask you this before, Thane, but, are you okay?”

Thane faltered for a second, as if he didn’t expect anyone but Leona and his son to ask. Was he the only one from the crew that visited him? He didn’t really want to think about that right now, but maybe he’ll tell Tali to pay him a visit. It had to have been lonely dying in a hospital, he knew that from experience.

“I’m…better I think.” Garrus smiled at the lighter tone his voice took.

“That’s better than nothing, I guess. I just, I sat here complaining to you while you’re…you know fighting an illness every second of the day. And you’ve been a great friend to me, Thane. I just wanted you to know that.”

Thane smiled, Garrus could see it in the reflection of the large window he was standing in front of. It felt good, to see him smile, it was a rare sight.

“Don’t worry, our conversation was a welcome distraction from all of this. I was once in your position too, so I understand your fears. Think about what I’ve said, you two have become my closest friends, and I would like to leave this galaxy knowing that you two are happy.”

Garrus thinks for a minute, if he wasn’t turian, if he wasn’t trained to restrain himself his whole life then maybe, just maybe he would have hugged Thane and said better, more comforting words to him. But for now, his words and actions would have to do. Thane appreciated them, and he supposed that was what mattered the most.

“Thanks, Thane that…means a lot actually. Some of the others are here too, I’ll tell them to pay you a visit. It’s the least I can do.”

Thane nodded at him through the reflection and Garrus awkwardly shuffled away with his nephew in his arms and made his way to the room where Leona and Kaidan were in. Upon his entrance, Leona and Kaidan were leaning on the bed, smiling and chatting in a way that made him feel horribly insecure. It wasn’t because he was worried that she was with Kaidan, they’re all too old to fall into the love triangle trap, he trusted her too much to believe that she would do that to him, and respected Kaidan as both a squadmate and a friend. Sure, he hadn’t seen Kaidan since Horizon, and he knew that she visited him after every priority mission, but he knew and loved her too much to think that she would in some way reignite her past fling. What made him insecure was that he didn’t know _why_ he was feeling that way. She laughed and talked with him too, but there was always this voice in his head telling him that he just wasn’t good enough for her and that she was too nice to tell him so. He had to remind himself that these were false thoughts, false hatred. But then she turned around and he just couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked.

“And there are my boys!”

Garrus walked in, Aelius already piercing his ears with his nervous whining. He missed the way Leona stopped in front of them, looking at Aelius with a worried expression. He started to rock the boy and pointed to Kaidan.

“This is my good friend Kaidan, Aelius. Say hello!”

Aelius gave a weak excuse for a wave, but Kaidan was more than happy to return one to him.

“Hey there little guy! Cute nephew you got there, Garrus.”

“You’re the first one to realize he’s not our kid.” Garrus joked, relieved that he didn’t have to explain once again that he and Leona didn’t reproduce in the middle of a war.

“I may have told him about Aelius while you were out with Thane.” She blushed a bit like Aelius was a secret only he was able to tell. He smiled at her and then turned his gaze back to Kaidan. The man laughed and clapped a hand on Garrus’ shoulder.

“It’s good to see you, Garrus. How you’ve been?”

“I’m doing as well as possible.” He said dryly. “What about you? Leo told me about Mars, how are you holding up?”

Kaidan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m doing much better than when I first got here. Doc says that I’ll be able to get out soon, of course she follows up with giving me more tests. I think I might have to take it a little easy with the biotics after I’m discharged, though. She seemed to stress that a lot.”

Leona waved a hand in his direction and said, “He maintains that his implant is only rattled, but the doctor and I think otherwise.”

Garrus shrugged and lifted a mandible to indicate he was smirking.

“There’s nothing wrong with relying on guns.”

Kaidan laughed again, “But I just learned how to reave…”

“There there Kaidan, I’ll let you go groundside once to help you get back into the fight. I’m not a mind reader and you have to tell me when you’ve reached your limit. I have to deal with that already with big guy over there.”

Garrus looked at her with amusement.

“It was only a graze! I wasn’t even bleeding that much and besides, I was saving your neck because you thought it was smart to use nova when you were _surrounded_ by Cerberus troops!”

Leona sucked her teeth at him and he let his ego swell just a bit to know that he won that mini argument.

“Okay so maybe we all need to work a bit more on not throwing ourselves at the enemy, but my point still stands, Kaidan.”

The man nodded, throwing his hands up in defeat.

“I hear ya, Leo. I promise I’ll take it as easy as possible.”

She looked satisfied, if a bit incredulous at his promise, but she decided to leave it there.

“Well, Garrus and I have to get going, we promised Aelius a dinner date with his asari love.”

Kaidan raised an eyebrow and looked at the little turian who was perking up already.

“Who stole your heart?”

“Aunt Liara!” Aelius said proudly. The adults laughed at him and Garrus rubbed his tiny mandible and said, “I’m not quite sure how long this ‘aunt’ Liara stage will last, but at least I can always tease him about his first crush later.”

Kaidan poked him in his stomach playfully, “I hope to see more of you, Aelius. Come back soon, okay?”

He looked up at Garrus and with careful nudging from his guardian, nodded slowly at the human man he’s just met. Leona and Garrus gave their last waves and left Kaidan to get his rest. Thane wasn’t in the lobby for the floor anymore, and Garrus hoped that he was truly resting and not just lying in his cot because he was told to. Leona pulled up her omni-tool and in a matter of seconds, Liara’s face was on her screen.

“Aelius!”

Garrus’ ears were filled with the excited cheeping of the toddler the moment Liara’s voice was heard. It brought him comfort, to know that he was getting along with the crew well, and that the crew made the effort to cherish him just as much as he did his nephew.

“Aunt Liara!”

“Hey Liara!” Leona interrupted, “Aelius has been dying to see you again and we were wondering if you would want to go to Apollo’s for some lunch?”

“Perfect! I’m already here, I’m sitting at the first table overlooking the Presidium. I knew there was a reason why I came to finish work!”

Garrus and Leona looked at each other and laughed.

“Alright, we’ll see you there shortly.” She hung up and looked down at Aelius.

“Uncie, I wanna see Aunt Liara!”

“I know, I know. We’re going as fast as we can!”

Aelius was small enough that he could stand up while Garrus was holding him, his feet positioned in his uncle’s palm as they walked slower and began to press his forehead against Garrus’ and rubbed affectionately and excitedly. Garrus’ purrs increased in volume. When Aelius finally nestled back into his original position, Garrus pulled Leona closer to them, wrapping his free hand around her waist. The love that Aelius was radiating made his own mood heighten a great deal. He pressed little kisses on her cheek whenever he could, and she couldn’t help but blush and laugh each time he did.

The walk to Apollo’s was pleasant for the three of them, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this update took so long, this semester has been a bitch to me in terms of workload! I just want you all to know that I am very excited to update this fic and I will try my hardest to resume a semi-consistent update schedule. 
> 
> Also, I will write a few more chapters from Garrus' POV because I think that's something a lot of people don't really explore as often, you know? 
> 
> In the meantime, please continue to support me, give me ideas as to what you might want to see between Aelius and his uncle (I have something special planned with him and Leona) or just let others know about this fic if it's something they would like! 
> 
> My tumblr is johnlockerooni if you want to shoot me some asks over there, or want me to write you a short shakarian fic or two! Thank you again!


	13. Lunch Date

Lunch with Liara was splendid, Leona thinks. She thought about the store and how Aelius cried and wondered if that was the start of a very bad day. Then she wondered if Garrus can tell that Aelius didn’t like her like he did his uncle or the rest of the crew, and if he did, did he feel bad about it? But seeing Thane made her happy again because she missed him while she was grounded, but the sight of him in that hospital, telling her about how it gets harder for him to breathe and move, it made her sad and wonder why he was cut down just when he was turning his life around, doing good for his son and the galaxy. Kaidan was doing better and maybe she should take that as a sign that sometimes the galaxy gave her good things. She asked him too if he would be willing to join the Normandy again. She’s apprehensive at first because on Mars they talked about their feelings and she didn’t want it to feel like she was toying with him, but then he reassured her that he can move on if she did and she begins to miss his presence on the ship. Udina wants him to be a spectre, the second human spectre, and he doesn’t know if he wants to follow up on that or not. It was conversations like that that made her realize that her crew had their own lives outside of the Normandy, outside of being on her squad. They had their own goals, aspirations, their own narratives. She couldn’t hold it against them if the wants of their lives outweighed joining her again, she supposed. She wanted him to come back, he was part of the original crew, and she already lost Ashley, and Wrex had to tend to his people.

She came out of the hospital feeling a bit morose about the state of her life, but then Garrus’ mood heightened, and he was just as affectionate as his nephew. It was just another symptom of Garrus’ sudden paternal instincts, but she would take it. She loved him, and she knew that sometimes he had a hard time believing that. Aelius was chipper the whole way to Apollo’s and when he saw Liara, his chirping became even more apparent to her ears. Liara shot up and lifted him from Garrus’ arms, settling with him on her lap. She sat next to Garrus, and they watched fondly as Liara doted on the small child until the waiter came over with menus. They ordered and somewhere along the way, Garrus had to go to the bathroom, meaning that his nephew joined him as well, not bearing to be apart from his beloved uncle for longer than five minutes. When they were gone, Liara looked over at Leona, smiling sadly.

“Are you alright?”

Leona thought about every failed instance with Aelius. Where she tried to bond with him like Liara did, and he rejected her. She wanted to tell Liara about how she almost cried in the middle of the Presidium because his sobbing broke her heart, instead, she sighed and said very little about her concern for Aelius.

“I just think he’s having a rough time…adjusting to me.”

Liara sat up at that, curious because she’s never had that issue with him, so why would Garrus’ girlfriend, the woman he spends the most time around, not be able to bond with him?

“Adjusting to you? How?”

“I don’t know, I just feel like I stress him out when he’s with me. It gets worse when he’s not around, but I know it’s the separation anxiety.”

Liara looked at her with a puzzled face. Leona wished that she could tell her about Garrus’ behavior change, and that she was scared that if she kept upsetting that boy, she would upset the love of her life and she wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to deal with that. She wished that she was better with him, that he would look at her and feel just as safe as he did with Garrus and the rest of her crew. Maybe he was more intuitive than she gave him credit for. Maybe he looked at her and saw all the death and destruction she was responsible for. Or maybe she was reading too far into it and he was only jealous of her being with his uncle for so long. Whatever it was it bothered her, and she tried not to let it bother her because there were bigger things to worry about, she shouldn’t be so hurt that a child doesn’t like her as much as she likes him. She notices that Liara can tell that this discussion is far from over, but she doesn’t press it anymore, Leona is grateful for that. Garrus comes out from the bathroom, holding his nephew’s hand and carried on a conversation that began some time ago. When they got back to the table, the tiny turian took his seat back on his uncle’s lap and made something akin to “goo-goo eyes” at Liara.

“Sorry for the wait, Leo. The food still didn’t come yet?”

She shook her head and waved her hand around.

“The café does seem busier today.”

Liara took her time to survey the area, coming to the agreement that there were a lot of customers sitting in the tiny seating area as well.

“I believe this has a lot to do with the coping mechanisms of the Citadel. People go out to eat with friends, family, coworkers, themselves, and forget for a while that there are millions of people dying with each bite they take.”

Leona gave a nervous chuckle at the asari’s words.

“Well I guess we have to count ourselves amongst that number today. We still have a bit of time before our shore leave is over.”

Garrus snorted, “After that it’s back to work.”

He held Leona’s hand in his and she couldn’t help but smile. She nodded. _Back to hell_ is what she wanted to say, but they had this for now. The calm before the storm, and she had to tell herself that she deserved it, that they all did. They couldn’t stop the reapers every time they destroyed worlds, not even the great Commander Shepard could do that even though she damn near tried. The crew of the Normandy deserved to eat at crowded cafes because every other day they were throwing themselves at the abominations that make up the reaper forces. They deserved to be civilians too, occasionally.

Their food came and Aelius made quick work of the plate he shared with Garrus. It was a sandwich that primarily consisted of a meat that Leona had never seen before. Garrus took his time with enjoying his half, whereas Aelius must have been starving because as soon as his uncle cut the sandwich for him, the little boy tore into the smaller pieces. Leona watched as he devoured his meal silently and quickly, reminding her that he was a little apex predator, the same as his larger uncle. When he was finished he looked up at Garrus expectantly, eyes wide and shiny as he hoped to charm the adult into giving him his share of the meal. The two women couldn’t help but laugh at that, and for a moment, Leona wonders if his bad attitude today was because he was hangry. If it wasn’t the entire reason, then maybe it was for his heightened distress and that eased her mind a bit. She hated thinking that there was a problem solely with herself. He seemed in better spirits after eating and that lifted her mood a bit too. Eventually, the café got full to the point where they couldn’t just sit and chat with each other unless they were ordering more items and none of them wanted to do that, or else they would have to deal with a very full little turian. Garrus relented, however, and gave him the last bit of his sandwich and ordered another to go.

“Looks like I have to eat this when Handsome’s asleep.”

Leona wanted to tease him for that. She smiled to herself when she heard her boyfriend casually refer to his nephew as “handsome”. While it was a rough transition, she couldn’t help but notice how much softer it made Garrus, and how her mind wandered to the thought of them somehow surviving the war and living with a family of their own. It was funny how children made you realize new parts of yourself. They stopped off in front of the clothing store again, and Leona felt her heart speed at the sight. She wanted to tell Garrus that she would stay outside, away from Aelius, so he wouldn’t cry anymore, but her turian was already inside, purchasing the items with a very excited child semi-tucked into his cowl. She doesn’t like this feeling, and she doesn’t like how often it occurs when she’s around him. Maybe she should talk to Chakwas, or Mordin when they return to the ship. It felt like anxiety but worse, it felt like some sort of doom upon her whenever she thought she would have to be alone with him again. It made her eyes water and her hands clam up and it scared her because this wasn’t something she felt even when she was about to storm a battlefield, at least, not as intense.

Garrus pressed a kiss to her temple and asked her softly if there was anywhere she wanted to go next. She thought about the kiosk that sold the new upgrade for her assault rifle, and had half a mind to go, but then Aelius shuffled in Garrus’s arms and there was that pit in her stomach again and she just wanted to go back to her cabin and rest. Rest for the duration of their shore leave, she would just buy the upgrade from the shuttle bay later and catch up with Cortez and James while she made her purchases, they mentioned something about taking tequila shots and she strongly considered joining them tonight. Not forgetting that she was asked a question, Leona shook her head and met her love’s eyes, they were always so gentle when he looked at her. His eyes were soft and understanding and she wondered why she couldn’t tell him that his nephew made her nervous, no, that his nephew _terrified_ her. She feared a harmless toddler who knew nothing about her turmoil. He was scared too, and that’s why he always wanted to be around Garrus, just like she did. They were halfway to the docking bay elevator, and the thought gnawed at her to the point where she felt physical pain. The Normandy’s dock wasn’t here. They were at the refugee camp of the bay and this was the last thing she needed right now. Garrus looked at her, unsure, and told her that he needed to have a quick chat with one of the turian generals stationed here.

“Victus’ orders.” He half-joked. She sighed and nodded. She should talk to some of the refugees here, maybe ask the turians about parenting techniques. That got her to smile a little bit.

She linked her hand with her boyfriend and the two walked out of the elevator together, relying on each other for support. She made a note to herself to tell him. She would go to the doctors first, and then tell Garrus everything because he loved and cared for her a great deal and she couldn’t bear to have him think he was the reason for her unrest when he was the exact opposite. Aelius chirped up at Garrus and the man ran a hand over his head lazily. He scared the shit out of her, but she could never deny that he was, quite possibly, one of the cutest children she had ever laid eyes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not as dialogue heavy as the other chapters are, it's alright! There will be a lot of conversations happening in the next chapter, and then we'll get on with the action scenes. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!


	14. Chapter 14

At first Leona worried that maybe this isn’t a place for a child to be. Walking around the docking bay, staring at all the people who had barely escaped the Reapers with their lives, the wounded who howled and moaned while the doctors darted to and from trying save as many lives as they could. But then she wondered, where was a child supposed to be at this time? Would Aelius truly be better off on a warship, or in an orphanage waiting for his mother to come and get him? The galaxy was dying, nowhere was safe and to be a child, let alone a three-year-old, was even more dangerous. They walked towards the back of the bay, where the turians were being held. So many wounded, scared, hopeless, she clenched her fist and kept her eyes on Garrus and the curious little boy that was tucked safely in his arms.

It wasn’t all bad, she supposed. On the occasions that she turned to watch the others there, she saw the way they perked up at the sight of the toddler, some of them even commented out loud about the boy’s presence and she couldn’t help but smile. She shuddered to think of the rarity of seeing children since the attacks started.

“Vakarian, sir!” A turian with red face markings ran over to the three of them. She still wasn’t good at reading facial expressions on turians yet, but she could hear how tired he was by the waver in his voice. How long had he been awake? What had he seen that she didn’t? Did they need help?

“Officer,” Garrus replied genially maintaining an air of professionalism despite holding his nephew in his arms. The other turian took a moment to take in Aelius’ presence, and then Leona’s.

“Commander Shepard, a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, I hope to see you all again after this is over.” Her back straightened and she too was in Commander Mode. The officer looked like he wanted to believe her, like he wanted to be sure that he was going to survive, but he only nodded, and Leona guessed that she shouldn’t ask for more than that. She wasn’t guaranteed survival either, even if she was the driving force behind the war.

“What’s the status here?”

Garrus and the officer walked up and down the holding areas, scrutinizing everything that their eyes landed on. Aelius sat quietly, perched in his uncle’s arms.

“We get supplies daily from Huerta, and what donations us dextros can get, but we go through so many in one day it’s hard to tell how much longer we can keep some of the soldiers alive.” 

Garrus stilled at that and Leona frowned. If she knew Garrus, and the soldier he was, she knew what he was about to say next, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

“It’s a tough call but we have to preserve as many supplies as possible. After today, any soldiers that are…that don’t show signs of improvement or are suffering…we have to let them go.”

The turian looked at Garrus and then closed his eyes before exhaling deeply. They were reluctant, but then Leona remembered what Garrus said before, about being a good turian and she wondered if the soldier had the same thought in mind.

“Sir.” He said before walking away.  The three of them stood there before Garrus cleared his throat and continued his tour of the turian makeshift camp. To her displeasure she found more bedridden turians than she did moderately or uninjured ones. How many of those beds would be empty tomorrow? She wasn’t sure if the soldiers’ families were here as well, everyone seemed to be adults. So, each time they laid their eyes on little Aelius, she tried to not think about the reason why. She noticed that Garrus hugged him a little tighter to his chest. They stopped for a moment, Garrus stopped to brief one of the privates, and something bright and orange caught Leona’s attention.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” She deadpanned as she stared at a hologram of herself.

The hologram was shorter than her by a few inches; she was a bit above average standing at five foot six, but she relished finally being taller than something for once, what with her seven-foot boyfriend and relatively large friends. The hologram’s face looked more official, more like the overly-acted ship captains used in those old earth Sci-Fi’s, her hair was tied in a ponytail, not a hair out of place. Of course, she wasn’t nearly as put together in real life, she was skinnier from skipping meals constantly, the stress of the war, even her hair feels thinner and the ponytails usually don’t last the whole day. She wished she looked as good as the hologram painted…or projected her to be.

“Hi there, I’m Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy!”

She looked over at the unbothered teenage clerk.

“Hey, can I uh, can I play with this for a little bit?”

“Sure, but some kid spilled soda on it a while back and we’ve only got the demo version running, I’ll unlock it for you.”

It sometimes entertained Leona that not everybody recognized her while she was out in public. Either this clerk thought she was an eerie lookalike to the holo, or she just didn’t care that it was the great commander asking her to unlock the VI of herself.

“Got any pets? You look like a varren person!”

This version of her sounded more like a brown-noser than a commander, but it was built so people could feel better about themselves. She wondered if she should gift it to Conrad Verner.

“No way.”

She heard the laughing tone in Garrus’ voice and turned to give him an unamused look.

“Zip it, Vakarian.”

She was secretly glad that he seemed better, even though it was at her expense.

“I can predict what the _real_ Commander Shepard would say with seven-percent accuracy!”

“I would lower that percentage if I were you.” She muttered as she triggered another response from the holo.

“Anyone tell you you’re one hell of a looker, soldier?”

That one made her laugh. To think that she would ever say something that ridiculous!

“I don’t really sound like that, do I?” She turned to her boyfriend knowing full well that he was going to crack a remark.

“I’d give it around…let’s say, seven percent accuracy?”

He was laughing now and little Aelius took that cue to laugh as well. She rolled her eyes.

“That’s right laugh it up.”

She looked over at the clerk and signaled that she was done cycling through the responses. She was sickened by what people thought she sounded like. And she thought she always sounded so much cooler!

The Shepard VI lightened the mood again, at least a bit. Garrus seemed a litte less unburdened as he talked to the turian soldiers, Leona wanted to think that maybe his mood shift would also boost the morale of the rest of the troops, if only a little. She looked back at the hologram and seriously pondered for a moment if she should waste the credits on it. It would make for one hell of a desk souvenir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is taking so long! It's a bit short, but I hope you still enjoy it!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction for ME in a LONGGGGG time! It was just a plot bunny I had for a long time and I just wanted to get it out of my system. 
> 
> I don't expect this to get very much attention, but it wouldn't hurt to comment or kudos :). 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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